Seat heaters

[strange]

One item that has always been on my wish list for the Safari is heated seats. Boy, is that a wonderful option! A few friends have cars with this and in the winter time, it's absolutely amazing! Anyway, I see that Jegs has a product called "Warmseats", which appears to be a couple of thin flexible panels that you install between the seat cover and the seat foam. At 3 amps it would have a pretty good output...

Has anyone ever done this modification? There is nothing better than getting a heads-up from someone who has been there before...

Much thanks,

Michael

2000 Safari @ 310,000km

[v8famvan]

I have installed this option on numerous types of vehicles & have found it to be a relatively easy kit to install. Of course the difficulty of install will vary with the different type of seat but the Safari/Astro vans are a fairly basic design. A required tool is a 'hog ring' plier & new hog rings to reattach the cover to the frame after reassembly.

[strange]

James - do you know of any Astro/Safari specific instructions as to how to disassemble and then reassemble a seat? I'm ok with the electrics for the heater, but I have never done any fabric work before... I'd hate to have to start driving my van with a "foam-only" seat because I couldn't get it back together!

Or would I be better off finding a good shop to help with this?

I've never heard of "hog ring pliers" nor "hog rings", but if it will help me get a heated drivers seat, I'm willing to learn!

Thanks!

Michael

[v8famvan]

Really the only special tools required are the hog ring pliers & rings. The actual reassembly is pretty straight forward & simple after doing the disassembly. Just note the location of the hog rings for reassembly.

[CaptSquid]

Here's a pix of hog rings & pliers:

[Rotor]

I have always been able to get hog rings for free from the upholstery shops in my area, as long as its only a hand full(more then enough to do all the seats. You can also use normal ol' pliers if you don't have access to hog ring pliers.

[unrreal]

check this site out: http://www.heatedseatkits.com/heatedseatkits/index.html

[strange]

Well, I think I like the site/company that unrreal has suggested, so I made an order. It will probably take me a little while to get this done, but I'll do my best to give a report on how it all goes. Then again, I might need to post some questions if I get stuck!

Thanks to all...

Michael