The heating element on my drivers side seat no longer works. Has anyone done this repair ? How difficult is it ? Does the seat need to be removed ?

I replaced the driver side lower one a couple weeks back as the element had broken and scorched a hole in the foam rubber. Luckily, it didn't burn through the seat cover. It is not too tough to do it with the seat in the car. Hardest part is removing the old one as the front and rear of the element are glued to the seat foam. I have never been able to find hog rings or hog ring pliers so I used small snap ties to reassemble.

Hi Bidman,

First of all have you done the following checks ?

Is the fuse ok for the seats ?
Does the 'red' light come on when the switch is on ?
Have one of the wires come off it's connector underneath the seat, happened to me many times replaced the harness was fedup with it.
The t-stat may have failed. It is located in the centre underneath the seat attached to the wires you have just checked. You can pull it out off its plastic container/holder and swap it with the other seat to see if the seat now works.

If you have done all this it may be the element. Mine failed and slowly burnt my bum as it was getting hotter every time i used it. Eventually burnt a hole in the seat, indian smoke signals between my legs!!!!

Anyway if you search the archives also there is a step by step topic on this. the seat needs removing to make it easy and you need to clips and tie backs.


hope this may help.

mark in leeds/uk.
uk voc 94 850glt 2l 20v 172k.