DENVER -- Imagine getting into your car on a cold winter day. You have heated car seats and they heat up fast. Then, they get hotter and hotter because something's burning.

That's the problem a Denver man reported to Call 7 For Help, and Consumer Champ Bill Clarke reported that he's not the only one who got a "hot seat."

Across the country, almost 300 people have reported car seats that overheated, so we wanted to know why nothing's being done.

David Malone was cold after a day of skiing, so he turned on his car seat heater an realized, as he put it, that his "biscuits were burning."

"It was surprising how hot it got and how fast it heated up," Malone told 7NEWS. "A few seconds later, I smelled some burning and then I saw some smoke coming up from the side by my seat."

The seat heater in his 2003 Volkswagen Passat not only burned a hole in his leather seats, but also scorched his ski pants.

"It kind of felt like a cigarette burn," he said.

Malone is not alone. Call 7 For Help found hundreds of complaints about seat heaters on the Web site for the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration -- including 32 just for the Passat.

NHTSA opened an investigation into another Volkswagen -- the Jetta -- but it has since been closed. Government said that "such failures do not pose a significant risk of injury or fire."

Volkswagen knows there is a problem with the seat heaters and it has agreed to replace David's car set when it can, Malone told 7NEWS. He disagrees with the safety agency's conclusion that there's no significant risk.

"If I was on the road it could be a potentially dangerous situation," he told 7NEWS.

NHTSA's records indicate the problem is not just limited to Volkswagen products. There are also complaints against Mercedes, Chrysler, and Saab as well.

Countless numbers of vehicles have seat heaters that don't cause problems, but if you do have a problem you should pull over right away and turn off your seat heater. Then, contact the manufacturer and Call 7 For Help.

For more information on heated seat problems or to see if you car has had complaints filed or an investigation started check out the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website at www.nhtsa.gov.