Heated seat switches

Antman · January 29, 2008, 16:49

I bought a new '2 last week - it's an 06, has 3,000 miles on the clock and has the black leather interior with heated seats. Love it to bits with only one gripe - the heated seat switches look like they were lifted straight out of a Supra, circa 1986! - And they are right where I put my elbow when driving!

I don't want to start drilling new holes in the centre console, so I'll have to live with the positioning, but has anyone replaced the switches with less obtrusive, more 21st century- looking ones?

Ideas and suggestions welcome..

Thanks in advance!

kanujunkie · January 30, 2008, 07:53

the retro fitted ones were mainly placed underneath the handbrake lever and out of the way

evileye_wrx · January 30, 2008, 08:36

I have the heated seats in mine. They are badly situated for the elbows during gear changes and I was constantly hitting my drivers side switch when I first got the car. I got used to it after only a short time and just subconsciously miss them. The other choice is to fit a short shifter gear stick. It moves your elbow position very slightly, enough to miss the switch and is a pretty handy mod to do.

Watch out you don't put too much weight on an open luggage bin lid when it's open. I leaned on mine when drilling out the security plate off the ecu for unichip fitting and the passenger side switch cracked. My passenger can still have low setting heat but the high setting is impossible to turn on. Mind you I do weigh rather a lot!

kanujunkie · January 30, 2008, 21:47

not an answer but how about haveing a master switch located elswhere?

Antman · January 31, 2008, 11:19

Yeah, I like the positioning of the switches by the handbrake when fitting the after-market seat heaters.

I'd like to move the stock switches onto the dashboard, replacing the coin holder thing and flashing red led on the left of the steering wheel - that would look good, but wiring it up could be a mission!

I'm going to trawl the Maplins site and see if they have any flush-fitting switches as replacements..

davidhowson · January 31, 2008, 13:56

Something like these I have in mine?...

Antman · February 1, 2008, 10:58

Very nice! Like that a lot! s:D

s:D

How did you sort the wiring?

davidhowson · February 1, 2008, 11:06

They are standard Toyota parts but cost something like £40 each!!
They also only work on the high in my car as the pads do not have a high/ low capacity.
The wiring was done using a multi meter to work out the pinout settings for the switch which also includes nightime illumination. I may still have the connections written down somewhere if you did go down this route.

wbarrwebster · March 31, 2008, 19:37

Dave,

"I may still have the connections written down somewhere if you did go down this route."

I've just bought the Heated Seat kit with the proper switches, any chance you could forward the connections diagram.

Cheers,

Barry W

kanujunkie · April 1, 2008, 10:57

Quote from: "davidhowson"They also only work on the high in my car as the pads do not have a high/ low capacity.

cant you just use a high power resistor to do that???

davidhowson · April 1, 2008, 11:06

It may take me a day or two to find where I have put the instructions on the wiring! s:oops: :oops: s:oops:

The high / low setting is usually dependent on different thermo settings within the heating pads (I think) which creates the different temp setting; a capacitor would reduce the current travelling into the pad and just take longer to warm up to the same temp before the termo cuts out.

There was some talk about being able to by-pass the termo cut out in the heating pad for the high setting and connect the low as normal. The down side of this setting could be a very hot botty or a small, localised fire! s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

I never got round to thinking any more about that though.