Seat heater almost caught on fire

**jmcS4** · 10-28-2016 09:54 AM

So while driving home last night I had my drivers seat heater on level 3. Noticed a small area of my lower back was extremely hot so I reached back and nearly burned my hand.

When I got to my destination I looked at the seat and a small hole was burned into my alcantara.

Anyone ever have this happen and can someone advise me on what I should do. Do the seats come apart like normal leather seats or do I have to go to an upholstery shop and have them sort it out?

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**pezgoon** · 10-28-2016 10:45 AM

Ouch! Don't have any suggestions but it sounds like it either shorted or the carbon filament just went up in smoke so to speak lol, I have heard of it happening with other cars (namely ford) but again have no suggestions, really sucks that it was with alacantra too :/

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**BCsniper** · 10-28-2016 05:51 PM

Take it to the dealer and you'll get a brand new seat

This is a known (but not very common) problem with the seat heaters in older models. In some cases people had their seat literally catch fire, or start to smoke. A few people actually got like 2nd degree burns on their back. Because of this Audi took the situation pretty seriously and people have been paid off in those cases. Everybody else got a brand new replacement seat if it was less serious, like in your case.

Also the new seats heater will not get near as hot. In new models turning the dial to 6 will feel more like a 3 did with the older heaters.

**jmcS4** · 10-28-2016 05:59 PM

Originally Posted by BCsniper

Take it to the dealer and you'll get a brand new seat

This is a known (but not very common) problem with the seat heaters in older models. In some cases people had their seat literally catch fire, or start to smoke. A few people actually got like 2nd degree burns on their back. Because of this Audi took the situation pretty seriously and people have been paid off in those cases. Everybody else got a brand new replacement seat if it was less serious, like in your case.

Also the new seats heater will not get near as hot. In new models turning the dial to 6 will feel more like a 3 did with the older heaters.

Really just bring it to the dealer?? Is it an open warranty thing? I'm not the OG owner of the car. I'll go tomorrow if that's the case.

My jacket got burned as well and it was smoking

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**Kambesama** · 10-28-2016 06:46 PM

Originally Posted by BCsniper

Take it to the dealer and you'll get a brand new seat

This is a known (but not very common) problem with the seat heaters in older models. In some cases people had their seat literally catch fire, or start to smoke. A few people actually got like 2nd degree burns on their back. Because of this Audi took the situation pretty seriously and people have been paid off in those cases. Everybody else got a brand new replacement seat if it was less serious, like in your case.

Also the new seats heater will not get near as hot. In new models turning the dial to 6 will feel more like a 3 did with the older heaters.

Was this also an issue on the B6 or is the B7 only ones affected?

**d2a4** · 10-28-2016 06:47 PM

Originally Posted by jmcS4

Really just bring it to the dealer?? Is it an open warranty thing? I'm not the OG owner of the car. I'll go tomorrow if that's the case.

My jacket got burned as well and it was smoking

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Also call AoA

**gcoy** · 10-28-2016 08:06 PM

Yes Yes & Yes. I finally got the dealer to replace my seat, but I started w AoA. You should too

**BCsniper** · 10-28-2016 08:11 PM

Yeah, you might have an even better outcome contacting AoA.

It doesn't matter if your are the original owner. Your car nearly burned you and could have also stereo a fire. They will take that pretty seriously

**jmcS4** · 10-30-2016 09:43 AM

small update.

called AoA yesterday and gave them all my info as well as a breakdown of what happen. turns out while explaining what happened and the women asking me questions i realized the seat burned hole right into my jacket as well. She said their safety team will call me for more info and advised me to bring the car to my local Audi dealer.

i also have a few friends who a audi master techs and they said they replace seats for free on case by case situations. crossing my fingers i get my Nogaro alcantara recaro replaced. TBH the seat wasn't even in bad shape cosmetically.

any have any more insight with their experiences? gcoy can you chime in with more details??

**gcoy** · 10-30-2016 09:56 AM

You just have to be very persistent. They don't "want" to replace the seat but they will if you don't take no for an answer. I told them that I was on the freeway & the burning hot seat caused me to swerve & pull over immediately, almost causing an accident. (true story)

Come to think about it they only replaced the back portion of the seat. The bottom was fine. Not a perfect match, but I'm the only one that would ever notice.