SaabCentral Forums banner

heat seater burning the seat and me!

3.9K views 18 replies 16 participants last post by  robhurlburt  
#1 ·
Hi,

This is what's up:

When I turn on the heat seater, the left side of my seat (the bucket part of the seat on Saab 9-3 Vector) got burned because of the seat haer. Pair of my pants got burnt as well that sit close to the (inch in diameter) really hot part of the seat that heats up like crazy. Leather got burned, it's all wrinkled and brown from burning in that part of the seat. I can't use the seat heaters any more because everytime I turn it on now it starts smelling like burning leather and well my pants get ruined too, not to mention my left leg (thigh) feels like it's catching on fire. My car has 43k miles, so I'm 3000 miles over the warranty.

What do I do!? I want to use the heated seats, so not using them isn't an options. Someoneplease shed some light on this. Thank you in advance!!
 
#7 ·
4 years passed, that's what I meant. So I'm out of the warratny.


Is there any way I can replace the burnt part of the leather? It's the bucket part that is connected to the white part of the bucket seat..How much would that cost me?
Dealer won't do anything about this I'm guessing? Right?
 
#8 ·
losmi8 said:
4 years passed, that's what I meant. So I'm out of the warratny.


Is there any way I can replace the burnt part of the leather? It's the bucket part that is connected to the white part of the bucket seat..How much would that cost me?
Dealer won't do anything about this I'm guessing? Right?
search for a specialist saab breaker, they dismantle crashed cars and sell the good bits on for a fraction of the original cost. tell them what trim you have on the seat and they may have one in stock. even if they dont have the heated one, you could strip it for its leather and fit a new heating element to your current seat.
 
#9 ·
losmi8 said:
Hi,

This is what's up:

When I turn on the heat seater, the left side of my seat (the bucket part of the seat on Saab 9-3 Vector) got burned because of the seat haer. Pair of my pants got burnt as well that sit close to the (inch in diameter) really hot part of the seat that heats up like crazy. Leather got burned, it's all wrinkled and brown from burning in that part of the seat. I can't use the seat heaters any more because everytime I turn it on now it starts smelling like burning leather and well my pants get ruined too, not to mention my left leg (thigh) feels like it's catching on fire. My car has 43k miles, so I'm 3000 miles over the warranty.

What do I do!? I want to use the heated seats, so not using them isn't an options. Someoneplease shed some light on this. Thank you in advance!!
My wife's saab had the exact same problem at exactly the same mileage! fortunately her leather did not burn but the heated did fail soon after it started getting extremely hot. saab really should take responsibility for this but we're also out of warranty and probably out of luck. the seat heater was my wife's favorite feature so this is a total nightmare!

can anyone post instructions on how to remove the seat cover? i cant imagine the manual would have that. dealer just quoted $500 to fix it and id rather try to do it myself first. thanks!
 
#11 ·
Have you called the Service Manager at your dealership and asked him if he could grant you a little leeway on the repair? I had a problem with our car when it was just out of warranty and they took care of it no questions asked.

Considering the serious nature of the problem (fire!) you may get some help and if not try contacting Saab USA and explaining the situation.

Just rememer to be professional and polite when dealing with everyone.

Matt

losmi8 said:
Hi,

This is what's up:

When I turn on the heat seater, the left side of my seat (the bucket part of the seat on Saab 9-3 Vector) got burned because of the seat haer. Pair of my pants got burnt as well that sit close to the (inch in diameter) really hot part of the seat that heats up like crazy. Leather got burned, it's all wrinkled and brown from burning in that part of the seat. I can't use the seat heaters any more because everytime I turn it on now it starts smelling like burning leather and well my pants get ruined too, not to mention my left leg (thigh) feels like it's catching on fire. My car has 43k miles, so I'm 3000 miles over the warranty.

What do I do!? I want to use the heated seats, so not using them isn't an options. Someoneplease shed some light on this. Thank you in advance!!
 
G
#17 ·
losmi8 said:
Leather got burned, it's all wrinkled and brown from burning in that part of the seat. I can't use the seat heaters any more because everytime I turn it on now it starts smelling like burning leather
I would tell your dealer smoke was coming out of the seat and show them the burned part. I am sure they recognize it as a serious safety hazard (which it probably is). If that fails, Saab USA should be your next stop. I think they would be very interested to hear about this problem and have it fixed before 9-3s start catching on fire on the 6-o-clock news..
 
#18 ·
quasisaabi said:
I have 3 levels and they do turn off after a while. I never timed it but 10 - 15 minutes seems about right. I thought it was a function of temperature but I'm not sure.
Yup, 03's - 06's have 3 levels, and can be set in profiler to come on automatically. They activate if the outside temperature is below about 10 degrees C. 2007 on models with the new HVAC controls only have 2 settings.

They always turn off (regardless of whether they came on automatically or manually) after approx 15 minutes.