2011 has heat pads in front seats. Help me turn 'em on!

Greetings -

I've owned an early 2011 for a short while. And after doing all the easy mods, I started on the heated seats today. I have the same universal kit that I've used in previous cars sitting here ready to go. So I began pulling the passenger seat fabric off, and what did I find? A factory heating pad right there on the seat cushion. I haven't checked for the back of the seat yet, but I'm guessing I've got one there too.

I can't be the first one to notice this. And I can't be the first one who'd like to energize those things. Seems really silly to install my aftermarket heat pads over the factory ones! So... is this a case of adding a fuse to the seat heat position, snapping in the factory heater switches and plugging in an existing harness? I've not seen an extra harness end yet, but then I haven't looked all that hard either.

Who wants to be my best friend and point me to where this has all been discussed and figured out already?

"2011 has head pads in front seats. Help me turn 'em on!"


Sounds like an interesting situation....

Pictures please.

Ok, so maybe I got a bit too excited? Is the black felted pad with a wire mesh in it just the passenger sensor for the airbag? There's nothing in the seat back, so I'm thinking it must be the sensor. I don't have a super-easy way of posting pictures right now or I'd do it.

so now the question becomes - OK to put heat directly on top of that black pad?

Be careful of the eyes.

You guys are hilarious!

Boot to the head.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5kGUW6M7W0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false

Darell, I'm sure that you have already looked at it, but if you didn't see this yet, the BayLEAFs held a few seat heater installation parties. Some of the visuals might be worth a glance:

https://plus.google.com/photos/101202810889400918972/albums/5674942388911678273" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.electricvehiclewiki.com/Seat_Heaters" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Did anyone document how long does it take to complete one of these DIY installations?
Looks like a long half-day's work...

surfingslovak said:

Darell, I'm sure that you have already looked at it, but if you didn't see this yet, the BayLEAFs held a few seat heater installation parties. Some of the visuals might be worth a glance:

https://plus.google.com/photos/101202810889400918972/albums/5674942388911678273" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.electricvehiclewiki.com/Seat_Heaters" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Click to expand...

Thanks folks.

Reinventing the wheel for myself (in other words, doing this my own way from past experience), installing one set of pads in the passenger seat took me about one hour, including head-scratching and beer drinking. Another hour to fit the switches and properly wire it all up. I'm having to do it in stages because the car is so rarely here during daylight hours, and it has to be ready to go the next morning. But I figure 2.5 hours for somebody who's reasonably accomplished.

Thanks for the links Mr. Slovak. I've stumbled on both of them from a few different angles. I went a different route with my fabric removal. I've learned from past experience that the less you dismantle the better. I'm not going into the upholstery business, that's for certain.

I'm still looking for a concrete answer on what the black, felted pad with the mesh of wires is all about - only in the passenger seat. I'm guessing it has to be the occupancy sensor, and not a heater as I first guessed. I've never seen one before. Somehow Toyota managed to totally hide whatever they use in the passenger seat.

I've just slapped my after market pad over the thing, in hopes that I don't mess up whatever it is.

OK, here you go. I hope it isn't too big to mess up the thread. I wanted to show the detail of the thing. This is on the seat cushion of the passenger seat. The control box attached to it has a million pins and components. It is protected/covered by a foam panel. Can anybody tell me what this thing is??

IEE makes "Automotive safety sensing for car occupants and pedestrians, and customized input sensing for the car interior"

Money's on the passenger airbag sensor...

Thanks Jeremy.

Man, with all those fine wires, I though for sure it was a heating element.

I'm still trying to figure out why I'm the only one who seems to have seen this thing. None of the DIY seat heat folks have mentioned it, as far as I can tell. Maybe only on this first run of 2011's?

I vaguely remember seeing the control unit on the edge of the seat during one of the seat warmer installation meet-ups. I found this illustration in the shop manual for the 2009 Nissan Altima: