How to Fit Heated Seats
Cold bums are toast when you fit a heated seat kit. Dave Barker shows how
Defenders are not the warmest of cars, but this guide will help keep bottoms toasty
We all know that Defenders, even the later Puma models with their improved heaters, are not the warmest of vehicles even in the summer. If you happen to have leather or vinyl seats, then climbing in on a cold winter morning and sitting down can be a chilling experience. For models without heated seats, an aftermarket retrofit heated seat kit is available from Britpart.
The kit is easy to fit and comes with all the parts needed, comprising a wiring loom, relay, a two-way illuminated rocker switch and four heated pads (like small electric blankets) – two for the seat bases and two for the seat backs. These are fixed with double-sided tape onto the foam base and backs of the seats under the existing upholstery. The clear instructions show where the heated pad for the seat back needs to be cut or slit to allow the retainer clips to pass through the backrest foam and the heating pad. The instructions also show which of the kits wires need connecting to a +12 volt power supply, an ignition switched +12 volt supply and a light illumination supply to light the on/off switch. The instructions do not show how or where to run the wiring loom or where to connect the wires to the vehicle, only recommending you fit the switch where both driver and passenger can reach it. The instructions illustrate the rocker switch being fitted in the cup holder moulding located in a cubby box, which is ideal. If you don’t have a cubby box you will have to find a suitable alternative position to fit the switch.
Our 2004 Td5 Defender 110 happened to have a cubby box with a cup holder, which made fitting easier. Because it was a Td5 the main power supply for the heated seats could be taken from the underseat fuse box, as could the ignitionfed power supply. The supply for the switch illumination was more difficult, with the closest point for a power supply controlled by the vehicle’s lighting system being in the steering column. In a Defender we know that running any wiring from the dash across the floor to the seat box is not easy. It meant the supply wire being run from the light switch on the steering column, through the dash, then down behind the fuse box. From there it was fed under the floor matting and across to join the new heated seat loom. How you run the wiring is down to individual choice and the model of Defender you have. On earlier Defenders with no underseat fuse box, you might choose to run the main power feed directly from the underseat battery and the ignition feed from the bulkhead transmission tunnel fuse box. The harness in the kit includes an inline fuse. Whichever way you run your wiring, always protect the cables from sharp edges and places where the wiring insulation could become damaged.