Burning smell from drivers seat - Getaway

You have lots under your driver's seat. Are you sure you have the right culprit?

Not sure we need to be using fear uncertainty and doubt without knowing the truth. I updated your thread title to be more specific.

jack_4358 said:

We had a burning smell from the driver’s seat with the heater off. Anyone have experience with this? I am fine with just pulling the fuse and killing the heaters, much better than a fire. MB has a history of seat fires with their fleet.

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You're referring to the cold weather package seat heaters? If so, I have them -- with swivels -- and they have not been a problem. To the contrary, I am glad I bought them. I did damage the seat heater controller module when installing the swivels (it's on the driver's side only, under the seat, black box), but the system just shut down, no burning. I'd assume Driverge has some form of seat swivel cable extension for the seat air bag and heater on the driver's side at least.

If you suspect combustion from your electrics, get it towed to the dealer ASAP.

Depending on options you have additional electronics under the seat on a Getaway. You cannot assume it's heater especially when they are literally not powered on.

Companies with a history of specific problems like that tend to be less likely to have them than someone else. Also Mercedes problems with seat heater issues was limited to the W163 ML class which used an entirely different (American) supplier for their seats than other Mercedes, because the vehicle was intended to be inexpensive and explorer competitive.

As Pounce said there are a lot of electrical things under the seat, such that Idoubt it’s the seat heaters.

WE have seen the factory aux batteries fail and sulfate and start smoking. I would check that battery ASAP and disconnect it. Then I would double check all the aux battery wiring and call Driverge. I bet it's related to that battery and not the seats, etc.

jack_4358 said:

We had a burning smell from the driver’s seat with the heater off. Anyone have experience with this? I am fine with just pulling the fuse and killing the heaters, much better than a fire. MB has a history of seat fires with their fleet.

Click to expand...

I had something similar and I pop open the hood and a rat was there. I smell something burning and it was a plastic wrap of some sort that the rat had drag into my engine compartment. The plastic wrap started to melt or burn off and let out the smell through the vent. The rat ran away underneath the opening once the engine stop. Yes, I live in NYC.

@jack_4358 did you get this sorted?