The one option my truck didn't come with that I wanted (other than a factory towing package) was heated seats. We get some pretty bitter winters sometimes, and leather just sucks for the cold. Has anyone ever installed an aftermarket seat heater kit in their F150?

I'm looking at this kit:


It seems to have decent reviews. I feel confident that I can install this myself with some decent instructions (I tore apart and fixed my sunroof myself and that wasn't terribly difficult). But just looking for feedback from others who may have done this install themselves as well. If you have, what kit did you use? How easy/difficult was the install? What wire did you tap into for power and did you add an inline fuse? Where did you install the switch? Any other tips?

 

I have the OEM seat warmers in my truck...I LOVE them!

I have never taken my seats apart, but I am sure if you take your time it shouldn't be a problem...I am gled that there may be a reasonably priced replacement if mine should stop working....

 

I looked a bit into it for my 07 fx2,
you need hog ring (and plier for them) if I'm not mistaken. cause the leather is retained with them and not simply zipped.
I would install them with a relay to the battery.. powered by a accessory
(I'm already using the not used 4x4 switch (light prong in the connector) on my fx2 for another use, so it would be on the same one.....it's dimmeable light but I always have them fully on, so no issue.)

I finally didn't do it cause I rarely use my truck in winter.

 

I did a bit of research on this subject myself over the weekend. Changed my mind about the product I was going to use; decided to order this instead:


This is partly because this style of seat heater is supposedly better than the other one I originally posted; but mostly because it comes as two sets, so I can install in both front seats. AND it has a 5yr warranty.

This Youtube video helped tremendously; even though it wasn't about installing a heated seat kit, they showed pretty much everything I needed to do to remove and reinstall the seat covers. It even shows a little bit about repairing seat foam if needed, although my seats are in pretty good condition. I don't even think I need to install new hog rings from watching the video, as I don't need to remove the seat covers all the way. I may need to on the seat bottom, just depends on how much I can access without needing to remove the entire thing. I only need to be able to slide the heating pad in from the back. Maybe the OEM leather interior is installed differently than the cloth interior, but I'll cross that bridge when I need to.

Check out from the 2:00 mark to about the 8:00 mark.


I know where I want to put the switches. They'll be next to the cigarette lighter ****. I just need to figure out how to get the wiring there. I've never taken apart my flow-through console, but I assume it's not terribly difficult. I may not even need to do that. As far as power source... A lot of people suggest tapping into the cigarette lighter circuit, that way it only gets power when the truck is on. Looks like it comes with a relay to install, but if it doesn't, I'll buy one to install.

 

I believe that the lighter is powered all of the time...

There is a slight chance that the wiring for the seat warmer is already installed, and you would just have to tap into it...Its worth a look behind the radio bezel, and under the seat..

Good luck!

 

Thank you for the replies! I have some more questions now about what to tap into for a power source.

Here's an update to where I'm at right now. I've ordered that kit I mentioned in my last post. It came with a nice wiring harness for each seat. These wiring harnesses each have a dual setting switch (actually three settings; off, low, and high), a relay (I'm assuming to cut power to the heating elements if they get too hot), a ground and a hot wire (with a 10amp fuse block already installed).

I've got the heating elements installed in both the driver and passenger seat over this last weekend. This isn't too difficult of a task, but it could probably have been easier to do if the temps weren't so cold outside. This makes the leather seats a little less pliable. The seat back covers are just retained with plastic J-clips at the bottom. I just pushed the back one forward with a flathead screwdriver which gave me enough slack to unclip the front J-clip from the rear J-clip. Then you just push the front one through the bottom of the seat and you can pull up the seat cover from there. I only needed to lift the seat cover part of the way to get enough access to slide the heating element all the way up. Now I did have to cut part of the length off, but the way I read instructions is that cutting lengthwise is fine, but cutting width-wise will render them useless. I think I cut somewhere between 3-4 inches off the top.

For the seat bottom, there's four 13mm (1/2") nuts to remove from each corner. Once that's done, carefully remove or unplug any connectors from the bottom of the seat. The passenger seat has a connection for the sensor that will turn off your passenger airbag if you have anything that weighs less than a young adult in that seat. I left that alone because I couldn't really get good access to it to unplug it, but the two other connections under the seat I unplugged which provided me enough access to the seat. A J-clip on each side, towards the back of the seat, and one large J-clip at the back of the seat, will provide enough access to slide the heating element in. Be aware that the seat pan has very sharp edges! There are hog ring listings on each side and the front, but I didn't find the need to remove any of them.

My driver's seat is powered, so the seat bottom has a lot more connections to undo to get access but all of them are easy to get to and so I was able to remove the entire seat bottom and set it on my tailgate. While I had it apart, I did some minor seat foam repair. As we all know, the driver's seat bolster tends to wear down due to sliding in/out of the truck. If you ever feel like repairing/preventing worse wear, It only takes a few minutes to unbolt the seat bottom and unplug the connectors to get it out and fix it. What's really happening is that the seat foam gets torn up by the seat pan's sharp edges when a person is sliding in/out. Mine isn't terribly bad, so I covered the seat pan edge with some thick, sticky felt. I'm hoping the felt will help prevent the sharp edge of the seat pan from further damaging the seat foam. Worked great. Sorry I didn't take pics.

This is as far as I've gotten though. I didn't have enough time to get it all done over the weekend, just too many things I need to get done before Christmas. I actually only got one set of heating elements installed on Saturday, and then I did the other set on Sunday. The hard part's over now. I just need to get the wiring in place.

Which brings me to my questions. There isn't any existing heated seat wiring harnesses to tap into. If my research is right, for 2004 the FX4 just wasn't available with heated seats. The only F150s that had the option of heated seats were the ones that also have the electronic HVAC system. I don't have that system. However, reading from other owners who installed heated seats in their trucks, they just used an add-a-fuse fuse tap, wired their wiring harnesses to that and plugged it into a 10amp fuse location in the fuse box. They don't specify really well which fuse location in the fuse box they are actually using, seemed like they just picked one and went with it. I'm not sure if this is what I should do, being that my harnesses already have a 10amp fuse block on them, but there is a fuse location that controls the run/start feed and says that heated seats are part of this particular circuit (along with other stuff). I'm leaning towards using a fuse tap on this circuit to power my heated seats.

My questions:
1. Is this advisable?
2. The amp draw for each seat will be 3 Amps on low, and 5 Amps on high. If both seats were drawing 5amps, wouldn't that be pretty close to overpowering this 10amp circuit if both seat warmers were on high?
3. If so, should I tap into two separate fuse locations? One for each seat? There's another 10amp fuse location that is for DVD battery power that wouldn't be doing anything in my truck (no DVD player in my truck).

Thanks for any advice!

 

Whatever you tap in to, just make sure it is not powered all of the time...that way you don't run the risk of having the heaters on all of the time draining the battery or burning up the warmers or the truck...so the lighter would be a bad choice...the dvd player circuit should shut off with key off, or after the 15 minute delay with key off, or door open....

Just my $ 0.02 worth...

 

Do you have power seats? If so there is already power there. Add a fuse under the seat and away you go.

 

Driver's seat is powered, not the passenger seat. I'm just afraid of tapping into any power circuit and overloading it. That is a good idea though. Thank you.

 

I installed aftermarket seat heaters several years back. For power, I would suggest using a fuse tap to power a relay so as not to have to even worry about overloading existing circuit. Power to a relay would only draw a hundred mAmps (one tenth of one amp).

The only tricky part I recall running into was the airbag weight sensor in the passenger seat. Be careful as to not disturb it's position. I remember reading forums and the shop manual that says if you mess with the weight sensor, an airbag system recalibration is necessary.

Also be advised the seat belt tensioners (activated during an accident) have a pyrotechnic device in them. You have already figured out removing the seats is a breeze and makes the job 10 times easier.

As for my switch location...to the left and right of the cigarette lighter plug.