Driver Heated Seat Broken

[Garagoose]

This past week I noticed my drivers seat heater stopped working (58,500 miles). I did the normal check of the fuses and everything looked alright. I then used a multimeter to compare the passenger seat heater circuit to the drivers and noticed that one circuit of the drivers heat pad did not have continuity.

Next, I removed the drivers seat cushion to then noticed what looked like melted plastic at the back of the seat cushion. Upon further investigation it is apparent that the heat pad shorted out and melted a hole in my seat cover.

Has anyone else experienced this? I called ford and they quoted me a $160 diagnostic fee and that the ford Ranger seat heater pad can only be bought with the cushion for roughly $255. After some investigating I found the OEM heater pad (part# KB3Z14D696B) for $50 with tax on ford parts website. Not sure why I was told it is only sold with the cushion as one part.

Hoping that if this is seen by enough people or has unfortunately happened to others, that Ford will issue a TSB or some other recall. I can’t imagine this being safe.

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[diesel924]

This problem has been a plague on every OEM. I had a 2002 VW Jetta that my wife insisted on driving with the seat heater on all the time. It finally did the same thing yours did but right under her ass. Hilarity ensued. I think judicious use of the heater helps longevity. My $.02

 

[dtech]

You can register the event with the NHTSA , they maintain a data base and have threshold levels that trigger an investigation, but I mostly agree with diesel1924 on this and Ford does have nice toasty seat heaters.

 

[Garagoose]

This problem has been a plague on every OEM. I had a 2002 VW Jetta that my wife insisted on driving with the seat heater on all the time. It finally did the same thing yours did but right under her ass. Hilarity ensued. I think judicious use of the heater helps longevity. My $.02

That’s the part I’m so confused about. I typically don’t use the heated seats too often. Usually on cold days when leaving work, then I’ll turn them off because as dtech said below, they get very hot. My truck is kept in a garage most of the time so it never really gets cold when leaving the home.

 

[Dr3wDrop]

At least you know what went wrong. My Jeep JK had the seat warmer go out and there was no evidence of what happened. Jeep wanted $120/hr to investigate then whatever it cost to fix it. I had a cold bum bum for 4 years after that news.

 

[Muddy Fenders]

A heated seat pad is probably the easiest thing to trouble shoot.
I would have balked at being charged $120/hr to investigate. Should take them 5 minutes to determine this is a parts replacement issue and there is zero point in troubleshooting other than checking for power at the connection.
Its like your toaster....it works or it doesn't, and its usually one of the elements that went. No one trouble shoots a toaster when they see an element is burnt out.

For the OP, it doesn't matter how often you run the heat, sitting in the seat is going to work the wires, and if there is a weak point, that constant in and out of the seat is going to cause problems later.
As far as the heat pad sold only with the cushion, is yours separate, or are they bonded together?
You may be able to buy just the pad, but have to separate and bond them again. For the trouble, the extra few dollars might be worth buying as a package.

 

[Garagoose]

A heated seat pad is probably the easiest thing to trouble shoot.
I would have balked at being charged $120/hr to investigate. Should take them 5 minutes to determine this is a parts replacement issue and there is zero point in troubleshooting other than checking for power at the connection.
Its like your toaster....it works or it doesn't, and its usually one of the elements that went. No one trouble shoots a toaster when they see an element is burnt out.

For the OP, it doesn't matter how often you run the heat, sitting in the seat is going to work the wires, and if there is a weak point, that constant in and out of the seat is going to cause problems later.
As far as the heat pad sold only with the cushion, is yours separate, or are they bonded together?
You may be able to buy just the pad, but have to separate and bond them again. For the trouble, the extra few dollars might be worth buying as a package.

I took the cover off the seat. The seat heat pad came off the foam pretty easily so I saw no reason to spend $250 on the foam and heat element. If the new heating pad doesn’t come with any pre applied adhesive I have a can of fabric adhesive I will use to adhere it back to the foam. The cost of the repair will be less than $100 including the cost of the hog ring pliers that will need to be used to reattach the seat cover.

I was just surprised at how low of mileage it burnt out. I’ve had multiple vehicles with much higher mileage that haven’t seen this problem. Maybe 180 lbs is too much for the wires lol

 

[Muddy Fenders]

there you go, if they came apart easy enough then i'd go the do it yourself route as well.

 

[Dr3wDrop]

A heated seat pad is probably the easiest thing to trouble shoot.
I would have balked at being charged $120/hr to investigate. Should take them 5 minutes to determine this is a parts replacement issue and there is zero point in troubleshooting other than checking for power at the connection.
Its like your toaster....it works or it doesn't, and its usually one of the elements that went. No one trouble shoots a toaster when they see an element is burnt out.

Agreed.

 

[dtech]

.

I took the cover off the seat. The seat heat pad came off the foam pretty easily so I saw no reason to spend $250 on the foam and heat element. If the new heating pad doesn’t come with any pre applied adhesive I have a can of fabric adhesive I will use to adhere it back to the foam. The cost of the repair will be less than $100 including the cost of the hog ring pliers that will need to be used to reattach the seat cover.

I was just surprised at how low of mileage it burnt out. I’ve had multiple vehicles with much higher mileage that haven’t seen this problem. Maybe 180 lbs is too much for the wires lol

Could be caused by sub par quality or improper installation causing it to chafe - but it does happen. I'd much rather have that type of failure than something like the HVAC failure that a number of 2019s have suffered. When I see these posts about diagnostic fees that apply to even the simplest issues - glad I've never had to pay one.

 

[Smc915]

Same thing happened to me. Just replaced the heating element with a new one and it’s been all good

 

[Don'tTreadOnMe]

This past week I noticed my drivers seat heater stopped working (58,500 miles). I did the normal check of the fuses and everything looked alright. I then used a multimeter to compare the passenger seat heater circuit to the drivers and noticed that one circuit of the drivers heat pad did not have continuity.

Next, I removed the drivers seat cushion to then noticed what looked like melted plastic at the back of the seat cushion. Upon further investigation it is apparent that the heat pad shorted out and melted a hole in my seat cover.

Has anyone else experienced this? I called ford and they quoted me a $160 diagnostic fee and that the ford Ranger seat heater pad can only be bought with the cushion for roughly $255. After some investigating I found the OEM heater pad (part# KB3Z14D696B) for $50 with tax on ford parts website. Not sure why I was told it is only sold with the cushion as one part.

Hoping that if this is seen by enough people or has unfortunately happened to others, that Ford will issue a TSB or some other recall. I can’t imagine this being safe.

i know two ppl who have the same issue, my mom is one of them. I have touched the seat to see if its burnt inside like its but i bet it is. Have you reported the issue to NHTSA yet?F not please do everyone a favor this could make a huge difference. Also reporting it to BBB can push things sometimes (just make sure you file with the right address) i think we can all push this for a recall and make ford take our lifes more seriously. I don’t work hard for cheap parts and designs in my vehicle. Thanks for posting this.

 

[Garagoose]

i know two ppl who have the same issue, my mom is one of them. I have touched the seat to see if its burnt inside like its but i bet it is. Have you reported the issue to NHTSA yet?F not please do everyone a favor this could make a huge difference. Also reporting it to BBB can push things sometimes (just make sure you file with the right address) i think we can all push this for a recall and make ford take our lifes more seriously. I don’t work hard for cheap parts and designs in my vehicle. Thanks for posting this.

I did report it to the NHTSA. I submitted pictures as well. It appeared that there were a lot of other complaints filed back when I submitted the report. I will look into reporting it to the BBB as well.

 

[ronbaker33]

This past week I noticed my drivers seat heater stopped working (58,500 miles). I did the normal check of the fuses and everything looked alright. I then used a multimeter to compare the passenger seat heater circuit to the drivers and noticed that one circuit of the drivers heat pad did not have continuity.

Next, I removed the drivers seat cushion to then noticed what looked like melted plastic at the back of the seat cushion. Upon further investigation it is apparent that the heat pad shorted out and melted a hole in my seat cover.

Has anyone else experienced this? I called ford and they quoted me a $160 diagnostic fee and that the ford Ranger seat heater pad can only be bought with the cushion for roughly $255. After some investigating I found the OEM heater pad (part# KB3Z14D696B) for $50 with tax on ford parts website. Not sure why I was told it is only sold with the cushion as one part.

Hoping that if this is seen by enough people or has unfortunately happened to others, that Ford will issue a TSB or some other recall. I can’t imagine this being safe.

Man, I just had this exact thing happen to me. I having issues finding replacement oem seat covers as it seems as if these are on back order. Everywhere I look, it has them listed as back order. My dealer says they can get them but, it will be nearly $1000. I need new seat covers because it burned a hole through the top and bottom. Any ideas?

 

[Garagoose]

Man, I just had this exact thing happen to me. I having issues finding replacement oem seat covers as it seems as if these are on back order. Everywhere I look, it has them listed as back order. My dealer says they can get them but, it will be nearly $1000. I need new seat covers because it burned a hole through the top and bottom. Any ideas?

I didn’t replace the seat cover. The burnt part was where it met the backrest so you couldn’t see it. I no longer own the truck.

If the seat cover doesn’t look too bad you could leave it for now and replace the heating pad yourself. That way you aren’t waiting forever in a new seat cover.

For the replacement you’ll need some basic tools, I was able to figure out with any instructions. The seat cover is attached to the foam with metal hog ring clips that have to be cut using some snips. The hog rings are looped metal rods impregnated into seat foam. The only special tool you’ll need is some hog ring pliers and hog rings for reattaching the seat cover to the seat foam. I purchased them from Amazon.

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