Is this deja vu? Another carmaker is being sued for heated seats. This time, Mazda is under fire (get it?), with five different owners filing a complaint after getting burned.
If you own a Mazda6, CX-9, CX-50, or CX-5, you may want to avoid the heated seat feature for now. First reported by Car Complaints, the class action lawsuit includes a “reasonable estimate” of the cost to repair the 301,549 vehicles that may have this overheating defect: $662,492,128.17 total, or $2,200 per car.
Why are Mazda seats ‘burning drivers’?
The five plaintiffs all have their own horror story. Micah Prochaska’s 2017 Mazda CX-9 burned a jacket left on the seat, leaving a large hole in the upholstery and filling the cabin with smoke as he drove home. Sharmee Anderson said her 2023 Mazda CX-5 left a blister on her left leg that was later classified as a second-degree burn. Russell Quinn claimed his 2016 Mazda CX-9 started smoking from the heated passenger seat, but his repair was denied since the car was already nine years old.
Patrick Sandoval purchased his 2018 Mazda6 brand new. Due to his condition, neuropathy, he wasn’t able to feel the excessive heat coming from the seat. He claims that the defective heating ended up aggravating his prior spine injury.
The lawsuit read: “Upon inspection, after Plaintiff Sandoval felt excessive heat coming from the Vehicle’s seat, Plaintiff Sandoval noticed he had several burns on his legs and buttocks caused by the heat warmer, which led him to never again use his Vehicle’s seat warmer system. The excessive heat emitted from his Vehicle’s seat warmer system also aggravated a prior spinal injury he had.”
He sold the car to purchase a 2023 CX-50, but he found out this vehicle had the same heating issue as the Mazda6.
It continued: “However, upon activating the seat heating system on his new 2023 CX-50, he again noticed the seat was ‘insanely hot’ which caused him to stop using the seat warmers altogether. Plaintiff Sandoval was unable to use them as advertised.”
This last plaintiff reminds me of the Volkswagen Tiguan case. A paralyzed woman who can’t feel below her torso ended up getting second-degree burns from her Tiguan’s heated seats when placed at the highest level. However, this case involves only one model, and Volkswagen noted that the driver’s manual includes a warning about using the heated seat feature if you have “reduced sensitivity.” Volkswagen is claiming there’s no defect, but Mazda’s case claims a defect is present.
The lawsuit claims that Mazda knew about the seat heaters but failed to warn its customers of the potential for bodily harm and lowered vehicle value. However, Mazda has not responded to the lawsuit yet, at least not publicly. Is it possible that Mazda’s seat heaters are defective?
I was able to find a few instances of customers complaining about excessive heat from their Mazda vehicle. Six years ago, someone on Reddit noted of their CX-5: “Is there any way to adjust the heat? My gf thinks her seats are scalding hot on all settings.” While most people responded with jokes and snide comments, someone responded: “I have a 2016 as well. My seats get incredibly hot on the high setting. They also seem to stay really hot, even if I flip to low.”
