Hot Seat!!!!

[X5-RWK]

Two days ago I was driving to lunch and turned on my heated seat and noticed that the lower portion of the seat was not heating. I was not going far so I thought maybe it was my imagination because the back area was hot. When I drove home after work I tried it again and came to the conclusion that it was definitely not working. I called my local BMW service center and scheduled an appointment. You may have thought the story ended there but it hasn’t.
So yesterday I was in the Milwaukee area and driving down Capitol Drive in Brookfield heading to one of our locations and I was a little chilled. I thought, well I know the seat bottom isn’t working but the back is still heating so I will just turn that on.
On a side note to BMW, if anyone from there is reading this, my old GMC Yukon had the option of turning on the back only or the back and butt heater together. It was a great feature. In the spring or summer when my back was hurting I was able to turn on just the back and help loosen it up without frying my ass. It is Frying my ass that I am going to get into next.
Back to yesterday. I am driving down the street and everything seems to be right with the world and just then I smell something awful. Like something is burning that should not be.
I know what you’re thinking right about know but it was not that.
I had to open the windows to let some fresh air in because the smell was so bad. The next thing I know is that my butt cheek feels like someone shoved a hot needle in it. I could not believe how much it hurt and how hot it was. I was swerving all over the road trying to turn off my heated seat and keep my ass from getting scorched. If anyone next to me saw what was going on the probably would have called the police to report a madman driving around town. When I got to where I was going, which was not far from where I was when this happened, I got out of the X and inspected it. The seat itself looks fine but when I looked at the upper portion of my left butt cheek, there was a nice red mark from where I was getting fried. So, I guess the moral of the story is, if it is broke don’t use it.
I was supposed to bring in my X this morning but we are in the middle of a blizzard and it doesn’t look like it is going to let up anytime soon. 6 to 8 inches on the ground so far with another 6 to 8 to go. I am really starting to hate winter.

[Zulu95]

Recommend asbestos underpants!

[X5-RWK]

Picture was taken at noon from my office window. You can see my X between the camery and one of our route trucks. It had only been parked there about an hour.

[cmyX6go]

X5-RWK - I feel your pain, literally. It happened to me when my Jeep from hell seats shorted out on me. Try it wearing pantyhose...WOW!

[jscheneman]

I actually have the same problem and submitted a thread a couple weeks ago on the topic. Let me just say that we're not alone as many X5 owners have this problem. I called my local BMW mechanic and he has dealt with this before. It's more than likely one of the following: 1) a heating element going bad or, 2) your seat has broken down to the point that it touches one of the heating elements (which could be why you got that awful smell). Worst case for me was to replace the interior of the seat (a possible $750 bill).

If you happen to find resolution, would you please let us all know? Good luck.