Electric seat heaters...

[GT-B Spec R Pilot]

I had them in the driver and passenger seats in my last vehicle (an Audi) and they helped with lower back pain a lot in winter. Flicking through the owners manual for my current Liberty there are instructions on how to operate the elcetric seat heaters so I am guessing this must have been a factory option in some markets. I am wondering if this was an option for the Oz delivered vehicles and if so can they be easilly retro fitted (either d.i.y. or by a dealer)? Not sure if the wiring looms are a standard fitment and the seat heaters and switches would simply plug in or if completely different looms are fitted at the factory. Secondly the alternator output, not sure if a higher capacity alternator was fitted when electric seats were optioned given the higher electrical load that would be encountered.

Any ideas?

Cheers

[garbo41610]

OxyContin is an easier solution. And more fun.

I miss it.

[bigBADbenny]

DIYs on legacy gt from memory...
Heaters available from rallysport direct.
Not sure about wiring but its an os factory option so may be pre-existant, the switch locations at least.
Otherwise, seat power seems to be always on... Easy enough to put a switch/relay etc in the seat base...
The seats are fairly easy to pull apart and strip too...
Love to see this done, but you'd need the matching heated folding mirrors too

[Kekotic]

This is too funny.

The other guy with the GTB-R asked the exact same question like 2 years ago.
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9418&p=134550&hilit=heated+seats#p133522

Read Mihails final post, which pretty much closes the issue.

[GT-B Spec R Pilot]

This is too funny.

The other guy with the GTB-R asked the exact same question like 2 years ago.
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9418&p=134550&hilit=heated+seats#p133522

Read Mihails final post, which pretty much closes the issue.

Great stuff.... thanks... unfortunatly he never posted the final result! If no-one on here has actually done this then I will pay a visit to the local dealer next week and see what they say.... Depending on the cost (if it's even possible) the acupuncture savings alone may pay for it!

[bigBADbenny]

Well remembered!
Stripping seats is not hard, I even managed to do it without instructions (they're in the WSM too btw).
Just need to be careful with reassembling the seat base mechanisms...
I'd do it cos my wife might appreciate it

Anyone got hog ring pliers?

[GT-B Spec R Pilot]

Well remembered! Hell yeah!!!!


Anyone got hog ring pliers?

[GT-B Spec R Pilot]

Ok, to put this topic to bed, noting the linked post above did not have a definitive answer one way or the other, I have spoken to the local Subaru dealer (Capital Subaru ACT) about this. The electric seat heaters were not an option on any Australian delivered models. The cushions in the seats are not the same as those with seat heaters fitted. The wiring harnesses (both the harness with the electric seat controls and the harness in the console where the switch is located) are not the same in the Australian models as in markets where seat heaters were an optional extra and the guy was pretty sure the alternator would also need to be a higher capacity if seat heaters were fitted.
In summary, Subaru can order all the parts required, for both front seats about A$2500.00 worth not including uprated alternator, but cannot be certain they will fit.
Not the outcome i was hoping for but still an outcome.

[mynameisdaniel]

$2500 seems very steep... If I was to do it I'd go for some good (but cheaper) universal heat pads and get them put into the seats. Then buy the genuine controls from Subaru and wire it all up myself. How complicated can the wiring really be?

[bigBADbenny]

Seats:
http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.p ... 06069.html
Just googling the circuitry side...

[HyRax]

Rub some Deep Heat on your back before you go driving - much cheaper and smells funky too.

If you do go the universal heat pad route, be very wary of the side airbags (if fitted). The last thing you want to do is damage them, after all they're there to save your life in an accident. Maybe get hold of a cheap cloth seat from a wreckers and trial run an install on that first.

Alternatively, consider importing a set of genuine seats from a wrecker in Japan or America - there's no way importing would be more expensive than $2,500 unless you were getting rorted. Installing should be a matter of rip and replace the original seats as the wiring loom is essentially identical worldwide, even for the bits you don't have. On my Gen4, the heater power connector is there underneath the seat, it's just not connected to anything, and power is active to it too (see your fuse box). All i'd need to do is get the seats and source the controls to plug in and it should all work.

[GT-B Spec R Pilot]

Alternatively, consider importing a set of genuine seats from a wrecker in Japan or America - there's no way importing would be more expensive than $2,500 unless you were getting rorted. Installing should be a matter of rip and replace the original seats as the wiring loom is essentially identical worldwide, even for the bits you don't have. On my Gen4, the heater power connector is there underneath the seat, it's just not connected to anything, and power is active to it too (see your fuse box). All i'd need to do is get the seats and source the controls to plug in and it should all work.

Thanks for the info. I was rather surprised when the dealer said the looms were different. I think first thing to do now is take a look and see for myself, which is perhaps what i should have done in the first place...rather than rely on a dealer to know. If the plugs are there its easy to check if they can be powered up provided i can get an electrical circuit drawing. It would be interesting to compare the electrical system drawing from an australian model against a model where this option was available to see what other differences there are. If the dealer is full of **it and the looms are fitted with plugs for the seat heaters which can be powered up by simply putting a fuse in the right place then importing a couple of seats may well be the way to go.

[HyRax]

There IS a slight difference in the loom between different year models, but if you were to get seats from the same year model/generation as yours then you should have a direct fit. For example, the electric driver's seat power connector for MY06 is physically smaller than the same plug for MY08, but pin for pin they work without a problem - you just need to make an adapter to connect them.

As for the wiring diagram, you should be able to get all your info from the workshop manual.

[doddski]

HI all,

been lurking around for a bit reading and learning etc and this will mark my first post.

In regards to possibly needing a bigger alternator to run the seat heaters, i just want to share my experience in this regard
I put heated seats into my last car - 2003 Mitsubishi AWD Verada KL.
The Verada only had a 180 AMP alternator from factory, but it handled it fine. (Same thing - availabile overseas on the export Variant, along with folding mirrors, and auto lights, added those and of course auto windscreen wipers too)
Car never missed a beat with everythingn going - seat heater on full, stereo up loud and all the lights on etc, never hinted at needing more power behind it sort of thing.

Seat heaters are definately a great thing for back pain and easing it a bit.

Saying all that though, I am new to the Liberty's and still very much in the learning stage of these cars, so I dont know what these alternators pump out and what the other power requirements of the vehicle are, just going on my previous experience with my last car where I added the seat leaters to the front seats.
I just tapped power from accessory, ran a fuse and put the pad under the leather, its not all that hard to get the seat covering off, the hardest part I found was unpluggging the side airbag connector for the drivers seat!

[jacks-GTB]

I know it looks really gay, but I use my lumbar support....best thing ever....and I'm pretty sure that you can get heated lumbar supports as well