A woman claims her Volkswagen’s heated seats were defective and provides dramatic evidence to highlight her concerns.
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The video document, by creator Hales (@haleyy.stevenson), has more than 1.5 million views as of Monday morning.
In the short video clip, a hole can be seen in her seat with obvious burn marks. Next to it is also a white sweater with obvious burn marks. The on-screen caption simply says “Seat warmer was too warm” with a red heart.
She wrote in the comments section: “I think I need a pink seat cover right now to hide the holes!!”
Should I worry about heated seats?
progressive The article addressed the issue of seat heaters. It is described as working via a heating coil located under the seat cover.
“When you turn on the seat heater, electricity from the battery flows to the heating coil inside the seat cushion, warming the seat cushion.” “Seat heaters in some vehicles have a built-in thermostat to prevent them from overheating. Thermostats work just like the ones you have in your home. When the cushions reach a certain temperature, they turn off and When it cools down, it will turn on again until it reaches the thermostat temperature.
The article also warns that if you leave the seats out for too long, they can get too hot or malfunction, causing a fire. It also notes that sitting in heated seats for too long can cause “skin rashes, lesions, and burns.”
In 2013, it was documented that a Canadian woman had problems with the heated seats in her Volkswagen Jetta. According to CBC. She claims she was driving with her toddler in the car when the seat malfunctioned and her jeans started catching fire, forcing her to pull over.
“Being stuck in traffic with a seat on fire is a real safety hazard,” she said with surprising understatement. “If I had driven my car into oncoming traffic… there are a lot of possibilities that I would have gone the wrong way.”
VW Canada told her that her 2004 model was subject to a recall due to this problem, but that it had been fixed. Apparently that repair didn’t work, and the woman tried to warn others about the potential problem.
Consumer advocate Phil Edmundston, quoted in the same article, said this is not just a Volkswagen problem, but a long-standing problem. “Overheated seats, seats that burn your butt, have been in this industry since they started being offered as an option,” he said.
Viewers also give their opinions
Commenters were keen to share their opinions.
“A new fear has been unleashed,” said one.
Another person thought, “Maybe I won’t turn it to the highest setting anymore.”
Another person reported the usefulness of seat warmers. “My friend had heated sheets.[ers] This is to keep her food warm when she eats lunch in the car. ”
“This is something else,” someone else chimed in. “I always used heated seats!!” This never happens. It’s better to have the dealer repair it. ”
One commenter claimed allegiance to another brand, saying, “My Subaru seat warmers would never let me down like this.”
@haleyy.Stevenson I think I need a pink seat cover to hide the hole!!
The Daily Dot reached out to the author via a comment on TikTok and Volkswagen via email.
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