Hello-

I've been having an issue with my heated seats for the last week and a half. I start the car, turn on the driver's seat, the lights go on and the seat starts heating up, but after a few minutes it shuts off and I have to restart the car to get them to turn on again.

It doesn't happen every time I drive, but today it was -21 degrees C (-6 F) and I REALLY needed the seats to be warm! Haven't noticed the issue on the passenger side.

Any ideas? is a trip to the shop necessary?

 

I would say so. They should stay on as long as the switch is showing lights and not turn off on their own. My experience is that they will diminish somewhat in intensity after a while but they are definitely still on.

 

Is it possible that the heated seats have an automatic cut-off like the rear defrost, so that the elements used to heat do not burn themselves out? As I understand it, this is why the rear defroster turns off after a period of 20 minutes or so.

 

That could be- but mine are turning themselves off after 2-5 minutes, so the seats aren't getting very hot yet.

Sounds like it's an electrical thing... I was hoping there was some small fix, like a reset, but this one should probably go to the pros.

Thanks for the responses everyone!

 

Check my threads on this...and a question - any aftermarket goodies wired to your fuse panel?

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...use-panel.html

And you can bet your a$$ if you do, your dealer will point to that as the culprit, though apparently this is a KNOWN issue with seat heat or fuse panels failing. I still had to pony up some serious coin to replace the panel.

Good luck.