Caution using heated seats, rear heated seat fire, [Not an EV Fire]

[Nate977p]

WARNING! DO NOT USE REAR SEAT HEATERS. My back seat caught fire and burned, causing panic and a FD and PD response. To dispel any FUD– THIS WAS NOT AN EV FIRE!

If anyone knows anyone who can help at Ford, please, please, please put me in contact.



Its about 5am so going to catch some sleep, but we have a very important family gathering in Florida and were so excited to take our beloved Truck down. Having much EV experience, we felt confidence in the route and were going to blog it to dispel EV FUD/give a good real-world account. We have now have a truck with no back seat, is full of water/fire retardant, and is rancid smelling from smoke; I don’t think its safe to drive in (I am going to urgent care tomorrow and vet as my throat burns and the dogs are hacking, presumably from the smoke before we could get out of the vehicle).

Background:

We are on a road trip from Boston to Florida. I was meeting my wife in NJ and staying overnight. I had just left using a Tesla Supercharger with magicdock and there was an odd smell. Thought maybe I stepped in something while walking the dogs or some crud was burning up as battery has not been fast charged in while (it was 1am so didn’t think too much). Smell became worse so I called the wife to be on the phone; something felt wrong and I wanted her there if there was an emergency. GPS had led me onto a very narrow highway and I was trapped – no safe place to turn off.

The smell got worse and worse, now I knew something was very wrong. I panicked, thinking it was a battery fire (THIS WAS NOT A BATTERY FIRE) starting by the smell and fact I just left supercharging for ~30 min.

I couldn’t find anywhere to pull off, the wife was trying to help me find an exit and the next exit was a mile or so up. I kept going, something was very wrong as their was very scared crying from the dogs. Then came the smoke. I had to just make it somewhere safe – I finally got off the highway and couldn’t find anywhere to pull off. Something was very wrong with the smoke filling the car and dogs full-on crying for help. Minute or two later finally found a safe place to pull over, ran out of the car, unbelted both dogs as fast as I could and ran away with them. No leashes in my haste so I had to hold them next to a road, terrified they would bolt. We called 911 ASAP. The whole cab filled with thick smoke – it was terrifying and I assumed we just lost our truck to an EV fire (AGAIN IT WAS NOT AN EV FIRE!)

I cannot give a bigger shoutout to the Yonkers, NY FD & PD. They were there instantly and jumped into action. They were so helpful and helped take care of the dogs, while the FD put out the cab.

In the end, it was NOT the battery but rather the seat caught fire (assuming it’s the seat heater). DO NOT USE REAR SEAT HEATERS, FIRE HAZARD! I cannot believe in a 2022 vehicle there are no safeties on the seat heaters. The range on the truck in the winter is abysmal and I had been driving nearly 4 hours without heat, but had all seat heaters on the keep me and dogs warm to conserve range.

If you know anyone at Ford who can help, please let us know. We are at a loss.

Pardon terrible typing but I am exhausted and this was an ordeal. Catching some sleep but if anyone knows anyone at Ford who can help, I cannot tell you how appreciated that would be. We do not trust the truck right now.


2022 F150 ER Lariat - ~13,000 miles.

Pics attached (the pics are after as FD was packing up - I was too busy to take them during the burn).

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[ryun]

Man that's awful. So sorry that happened to you. Glad you and the dogs got away with minor injuries. Good luck at urgent care/vet.

 

[Heliian]

Luckily you and your dogs were not injured.

20-30 Years ago seat heater fires were quite common. Today, not as common but there have been the occasional failure across all brands.

The biggest takeaway is to only use the heaters when occupied by someone capable of feeling the heat and shutting it off if it's too hot.

In your case, the dogs weren't able to and in other cases I read, it was a car seat or something else that allowed the heat to get out of control.

Obviously, since it's 2024, these things shouldn't happen, and they arent common at all, hope Ford is able to take care of your situation.

 

[loveurdj]

Wow get some rest this is terrible. I wish you the best keep us posted.

 

[Runaway Tractor]

That's a horrible experience. The dogs must have been so happy to get home and be on someone's lap in the house.

A few things, from being a FF/EMT for 13 years, driving for nearly 30yrs, and have a dog.

• If your vehicle is filling with smoke, stop and get out. It doesn't matter how inconvenient the highway is. Fire inside a vehicle spreads in seconds.
  
  
• Have a fire extinguisher in the vehicle and readily accessible
  
  
• You don't need to "know someone at Ford". Take it to any dealer's service department.
  
  
• I know you're upset. But "OMG NOBODY EVER USE REAR SEAT HEATERS" is also just not right. This is a sample size of one, on a seat heater used in millions of vehicles. I will still use my seat heaters and I have no expectation that it will catch on fire.

 

[tls]

Waiting for @Ford Motor Company to ask you for your VIN and the name of your dealer (actually, to be fair, this might be one case where that's helpful!)

 

[JRT]

Wow, at this point it is an insurance thing to me unless your dealership wants to step up.

 

[Mike G]

Wow, at this point it is an insurance thing to me unless your dealership wants to step up.

I would think it might be investigated as a warranty issue. No?

 

[Heliian]

Wow, at this point it is an insurance thing to me unless your dealership wants to step up.

I wouldn't wash it through insurance just yet. Forget the dealer, this problem goes right to Ford.

If your vehicle is filling with smoke, stop and get out. It doesn't matter how inconvenient the highway is. Fire inside a vehicle spreads in seconds.

Ya, I thought that it was odd he continued driving while the truck was smoking inside and he was aware of it. You don't have to be a ff or ems to realize that you should stop immediately.
Everyone should have a safety kit and fire extinguisher but most don't, nor would they know how to use one.

 

[tls]

I've had cars before that burned enough oil to make the heater output extremely stinky and maybe even vaguely smoky (1978 VW van RIP). So I can understand how one might treat a bad smell as something that requires pulling over very soon, but not in a dangerous spot along the highway. And it sounds like once there was actual visible smoke, what needed to happen happened. Seat foam is loaded with fire retardants and should smoulder, not burst into flame, and leather doesn't really burn and throw off smoke either unless you really get it going. Definitely would not blame the OP on this one.

I don't have a fire extinguisher in my truck. I have kept them in campers (appliances!) trailers, various work vehicles, but not my daily driver for many many years. Modern cars really don't catch fire very often and when they do, a handheld extinguisher isn't going to do much. That's been my thinking - which I have to admit I'm reconsidering now.

 

[Need_A_Lightning]

Wow. This is terrifying.

 

[Zprime29]

Glad you and the dogs are safe and I hope there's no lasting health issues from the smoke.

Can I ask what level you had the seat heaters on? 3 gets too hot for my comfort, almost always use 2. I'm going to speculate a bit here as I don't know how the seat heater is controlled. Is there a temperature sensor that controls the levels or if it is just programed to use duty cycle to control temp? It seems plausible that if it was a sensor and it went bad, it could have let the heater go out of control. In which case, I'd think it a warranty issue. If it's just controlled using duty cycle (proportion of time the heater is actively on) then I'm wondering if the heat was on high and over a long period of time. IF that's the cause, it feels like that should be a recall to fix the controlling software. Hard to say for sure, what a crummy situation. I hope the dealership/Ford are able to pinpoint the cause and it gets addressed quickly and appropriately.

 

[jerock]

I know we don’t think clearly when things hit the fan but as stated earlier don’t look for an exit ramp. If there is a parking lane on the side of the road that’s your best bet. Turn on your emergency flashers & get out. If no parking lane pull over to the side & get out as mentioned.
That’s the public service announcement for the day. 28 years of fire/EMS here

 

[Henry Ford]

Awful situation. I'm glad you're okay and I hope your trip can be salvaged.

If your vehicle is filling with smoke, stop and get out. It doesn't matter how inconvenient the highway is. Fire inside a vehicle spreads in seconds.

This.

In my profession fire is the worst possible situation and we are trained to deal with it quickly. @Runaway Tractor has it exactly right and I'm sure the experience to back up his words. I'm not pointing this out to pile on but to point out it is not necessarily intuitive to know that smoke/fire is the biggest threat if you haven't been specifically trained.

If you've read this far consider this your training. If you are in a moving vehicle with smoke in the cabin or fire anywhere that is the biggest threat to the life of you and your passengers. Pull over and exit the vehicle immediately.

 

[Runaway Tractor]

Modern cars really don't catch fire very often and when they do, a handheld extinguisher isn't going to do much. That's been my thinking - which I have to admit I'm reconsidering now.

It's not to save the vehicle. It's to save the humans who may still be trapped in the vehicle (be it yours or someone else's.

Seat foam is loaded with fire retardants and should smoulder, not burst into flame, and leather doesn't really burn and throw off smoke either unless you really get it going.

For sure. And consistent with what the picture shows and the OP described. If it was actually on fire, as in flames, the truck would be a smoking hole in the ground, probably before he stopped.

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