Heated Car Seat Pads ?
Printed From: Unofficial Allis
Category: Other Topics
Forum Name: Shops, Barns, Varmints, and Trucks
Forum Description: anything you want to talk about except politics
URL: https://www.allischalmers.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=209614
Printed Date: 13 Mar 2026 at 9:17pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.10 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Heated Car Seat Pads ?
Posted By: BuckSkin
Subject: Heated Car Seat Pads ?
Date Posted: 06 Jan 2026 at 3:56pm
|
Is there such a thing as a heated car seat pad that will last a couple seasons instead of being warm as toast for about five minutes and then never working again ? I am meaning the type that plugs into the cigarette lighter. The wife picked out a really nice one on Amazon, lacking a few cents costing me sixty bucks --- for a single one - not a pair. It had some really neat elastic straps and hooks and loops and Velcro and quick-buckle straps such that it wasn't going to be sliding around. It was two-tone, grey and black, and perfectly matched her seats. Once on the seat, it looked as if it was a permanent part of the seat. She was tickled pink with it. The next morning, cold as a well digger's ice, she turned it on and headed to work. She said that within seconds she could feel the heat and it warmed up nicely --- for about five minutes; then, it cooled off and hasn't been anything but cold since. I tried everything short of cutting the stitches and going inside and it just refused to work. I boxed it up and sent it back to Amazon. The ordeal reminded me of at least three more that had been around here for years; I don't remember them not working when they got put away for the summer; but, I couldn't get a bit of life out of any of them. This last most recent one had a push-button switch that illuminated when the lighter plug had power; it had three heat selections and OFF; each press of the button would shift gears and change colors to indicate the selection. During all my futile trouble-shooting, this lighted switch stayed lit and seemed to be functioning as it should. One of the others was a really nice "Wagen" (I think) that I got at a Flying "J" by using my fuel points. Usually, anything bought in a truck stop is of surprisingly good quality; however, I couldn't get a speck of warmth out of that one when I tested it the other day. Is there such a thing as one of these that will work and last for a few years ?
|
Replies:
Posted By: steve(ill)
Date Posted: 06 Jan 2026 at 4:18pm
|
got the same problem with heating pads and heating blankets in the house.. Sometimes you get a good one that lasts several years... Most crap out in a year or two.. The FACTORY heated seats seem to work great... Proabably better quality and no sliding around and pinching things !! ------------- Like them all, but love the "B"s. |
Posted By: Lars(wi)
Date Posted: 06 Jan 2026 at 7:44pm
|
I have one I used a couple winters driving home from work at 4:30 am, from Rockford Ill., to Edgerton WI. Actually worked too good, the heat would darn near put me to sleep before getting home. ------------- I tried to follow the science, but it was not there. I then followed the money, and that’s where I found the science. |
Posted By: JW in MO
Date Posted: 07 Jan 2026 at 7:26pm
|
Wife got me one years ago that also had a massage button on it, used it for 2 years, but now, all my vehicles have factory heated seats. It had a fuse in the part that plugs into the socket, but it also had different temperature settings. I'd a probably cut into that unit to see if it had a safety limit inside or a bad connection. ------------- Maximum use of available resources! |
Posted By: BuckSkin
Date Posted: 08 Jan 2026 at 5:03am
I would have cut into it if it had been out of warranty; I was afraid to as it probably would have knocked me out of getting my sixty bucks back.
|
JW in MO wrote:Posted By: BuckSkin
Date Posted: 31 Jan 2026 at 9:08am
|
UPDATE: A phone call to Amazon got my money back as soon as UPS scanned my return package. Before ordering that sixty-buck fancy one that looked and fit her seat so well and stayed where you put it without wadding up and sliding around. I had been tempted to save a ton of money and get an eighteen-dollar one from E-Bay instead; there are a gazillion vendors on E-Bay selling the exact same one for close to the same money. After our bad experience with the sixty-dollar one, I ordered one of the eighteen-dollar ones from E-Bay; I could buy three and have money left over. Amazon gives 30-days to return an item; the particular E-Bay vendor claims a 60-day return period. Within a couple days, we had the eighteen-dollar unit in hand and put it into action. We have had weeks of super-cold weather. The wife says this new unit gets quite a bit hotter than the expensive one did for the few short minutes that it worked; I have seen her get out of the car and the seat of her jeans be smoking. The fancy one that quit working had a fancy lighted switch/button mounted on the side of the cushion, right at her finger-tips, that switched gears and changed colors with each press of the button; OFF - LO - MED - HI This E-Bay version has a three-position sliding back-and-forth switch mounted in the lighter-plug cord; LO - OFF - HI; although not as sexy, this type of switch is a lot easier to test, trouble-shoot, bypass, or replace. So far, so good.....
|
Posted By: Codger
Date Posted: 31 Jan 2026 at 9:33am
|
I've installed several into seats that are under the upholstery layer and not had problems. These are deep enough they don't absorb direct pressure, nor the twisting and resettling we do when seated. They are basically nichrome resistive wire just as in a space heater and brittle by nature to fit the application. Given the propensity of manufactures to build as cheaply as possible, failure is both invited, and inevitable. If you ohm those out when new, they are usually about 12-15 ohm resistive on high selection. Check when inoperable and easy to find the open with probing if access can be gained. ------------- That's All Folks! |