How is the heat level comparing the back and the bottom of the heated seat??

The back of my seat heats up very good, warmer than my body. However the bottom is not. The bottom stayed ice cold when no one sit on it, and it is only slightly warm when I am sitting on it (which I believe is from my body heat). I took it to repair at the dealer, but they say this is how it is designed, someone have to sit on it to activate the heat, and it is not as hot as the back. is this true?

Also, which part of the bottom would heat up? the center? the surround sides? or both? my dealer told me the center of the bottom part will not heat up, only a little on the sides. is this true?

 

The seats will heat without anyone in them. The entire center area of the seat bottom should heat and the center of the back mostly heats. Many seat heaters have issues and I am sure your body is heating your seat bottom cause you can tell if the base is heating pretty easily.

 

Your dealer is smoking crack...and the cheap stuff at that....

 

Take the car back to the dealer and have them check the heating module/controller. It is common knowledge here on the forum that our seats have issues. As VALKRYDERGUY stated the centers of the bottoms and backs should heatup and should be an even temperature between each.

 

From what I can tell from the prints, the seat and back rest are hooked in parallel for each seat so, if the back works it's not the module. The most likely problem would be the connector or it's ground. There are tests shown in the FSM for each seat and it's connector. Don't believe the dealer when they say we "reset" the BCM. The manual says it's necessary when the computer is replaced. I tend to believe the FSM. If the heated seat doesn't work at all then is the time to suspect BCM. Hope this helps.

 

I'll bring it to a different dealer next week and will see what happen.

 

Jackei

What was the result??? I have just realised that my pasenger seat it behaving the same way...

 

Quite simply one of the heating elements in the seat base may have crapped out on you - if this happens the seat back will still warm up (and vice versa). This topic has been covered many time, I have written a nice write-up on how to replace the lower seat heater with an aftermarket heating element which is much sturdier etc.
There is a repair kit for the seat base heater - it may not fix your problem - the first time I used it, it worked, the second time it did not which is when I put in an aftermarket heating element.

 

This just happened to me, so I took into the dealer just before my warranty expired and they ordered a replacement kit for the bottom of the seat and when they installed it they also found that because of the dead bottom, the connection plug for the back of seat was overheating and started to melt, so they order the kit for the back of the seat and replaced that as well.

mark

 

That's not good. I don't understand why the plug would melt unless it's capacity is not what it should be to handle the current. My question then to the dealer would be...Is the plug that you are going to replace upgraded or is it the same plug? The fact that that the bottom half don't work doesn't have anything to do with the plug melting. The circuit is resistive and less current flows if the bottom is out. Now, I wonder from all you who have replace the heating element acutually found the element bad and or is the wiring and plug section faulty?

 

It was the heat element. They changed the heat element and it works perfect.

 

My seat heater has been broken for 3 years and I have no intention of letting them ever fix it. There have been many issues caused by repairing these things. You can easily wind up with a baggy seat and all manner of other problems. It gets cold in Chicago and I won't risk getting it fixed. If I lived in Cal. and had a very ignorant dealer (as you seem to have) I certainly would not let them fix it. Sometimes the cure can be worse than the disease.

 

Agree. They messed up a couple other stuff while fixing the seat. broke the speaker cover behind the seat, and the seat belt sensor, and some scratch on the door jam. Well, they redo the paint job and fix everything for me, I'm happy but it just takes time.

 

When they replaced the back pad, it was a brand new complete set, so the old connection plug was replaced.

mark

 

Removing and dismantling the seat base is very easy - about 30 mins tops.

 

Had same problem. Dealer installed kit. All better.

 

I had the lower part of the cedar seats I got for my xfire, not operating. . . I ordered the kit - which has all the parts to repair one seat and installed it myself . . . .very easy, even put a post up with pictures to show the steps . . . if the heating element, or connection (wire) goes bad in the seat, then that is what causes the module to crap out. Suggest that if you have seat heater problems, get them looked at BEFORE you cause the module to go - more $$$$ to fix both !! Oh, yeah the repair kit was like $99 (Canadian) a couple of years ago now !

Cheers

Mark