Aftermarket seat heaters with leather seats

[YOKBB]

Does anyone have aftermarket seat heaters that work well with leather seats? I got a cheap kit on ebay and it doesn't seem like it's strong enough to heat my seats. It's nice and warm on its own, but when I installed it and covered it with the OEM leather, I can barely feel the warmth. It seems like the OEM leather has some extra insulation installed.

I looked up the Limited heater leather seat part numbers, the heated leather is a different part # than the non-heated leather, and comes with the heater pad included (the leather and heater pad can't be ordered separately). This makes me think the heated leather seats don't have as much insulation, or they have the heater pad installed between the leather and the insulation layer. Does anyone have more info about the difference between the heated and non-heated OEM leather upholstery?

 

[randy88fj62]

A side note to your quest. The OEM heated seats require a small black box (controller or something) that adjusts the OEM heated seat switches. The OEM switches have multiple settings. So you would not be able to control the OEM heated seat with a generic on/off switch.

The Solara heated seats must be silmilar. The leather comes off and the heating element is attached to the foam. The element is on top of the foam and under the leather. There was no extra insulation etc that I noticed. Hope that helps answer your question regarding insulation.

Odds are the kit you bought is just weak in general. The solara heating elements cost me $12.50 each at the parts yard but took me three days to pull my seats out, install them, and do the OEM wiring perfect.

 

[YOKBB]

A side note to your quest. The OEM heated seats require a small black box (controller or something) that adjusts the OEM heated seat switches. The OEM switches have multiple settings. So you would not be able to control the OEM heated seat with a generic on/off switch.

My seat heaters came with a controller box, thermostats in the heater pads, and 6-position switches to control the heat. I'd be willing to bet I could use it to power OEM heater pads.

I just realized that since my heaters have built-in thermostats, the heater elements themselves can probably get a lot hotter, but they're limited by the thermostat and control box. I'm guessing the temp sensor is a simple thermistor, which means I can add a series resistor so it warms up more (the controller will think it's colder than it really is). I don't want to melt the seat or start a fire, though...

If I had an OEM controller, switches, and heater elements I could compare the temperature at the max setting against my aftermarket kit, but if I had OEM I wouldn't be messing with aftermarket at all.