On 1/17/25, I was on my commute to my office when I noted a very strong and unpleasant odor. Thinking it was from a truck in front of me, I passed the truck, cracked my passenger window and continued the short distance to my office. After work, when I returned to my car, I noted a hole burned through my driver’s side leather seat. I didn’t make the connection to the odor from that morning until I arrived home and did some online research. It turns out that my front seat warmer had malfunctioned, burning all the way through the leather. This problem is well documented online in various forums in my year, make and model. In some cases I read about, driver’s clothing burned. In one case I found, a child was burned. This is also a well documented problem that occurred in earlier models of Mercedes, resulting in a lawsuit and a recall. My car is currently at the dealer for repair of the faulty seat warmer, replacement of the burned foam cushion, and replacement of the leather seat cover. This could have been so much worse had I been earlier in my commute, or on a highway where I could not have pulled over. It seems like this problem should prompt a recall.