The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it will analyze its data to see how widespread the problem of burns from car seat heaters is and whether heaters that can burn people pose "an unreasonable risk to safety."
Dozens of people with paralysis and other sensory issues have been severely burned by car seat heaters, according to media reports. Safety advocate Sean Kane and burn doctor David Greenhalgh asked NHTSA on Feb. 22 to reconsider how it decides a vehicle has a defect because seat heaters "that exceed human tolerance" are unsafe.
Greenhalgh, chief of burns at Shriners Hospital for Children in Northern California, says 105 degrees is the maximum temperature a seat should ever reach.
