Driver's side seat heater has been broken ever since I've had the car. Convinced myself the heating pad was the culprit (open circuit). Took out driver's seat, removed the seat leather, and voila: the heating filament is not just broken, there is a BURN hole the size of a quarter. Wow. I guess that recall was justified after all! (the damage on mine had already been done before I got the recall done) The leather surface is only very slightly singed, but a seam is coming apart because the thread burned... This is in the center portion of the seat - hope previous owner had alread had his children.

But wait...this is really an upholstery question. Getting all those hogrings OFF was a piece of work. But getting them back ON without actual hogring pliers seems like a nightmare. I would be able to reinstall the outside ones around the perimeter, but not the internal ones. Any tricks to get away without hogring pliers? Where would I buy hogrings and pliers locally (Connecticut)? I saw them online, but don't really want to wait for them to be shipped...it's tough to drive a car without a driver's seat.
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'97 850 n/a Wagon, 125K mi