Winter driving may be downright dangerous. If you don’t layer up, you’ll be shivering for the first few miles of your journey until your car warms up. This is not an ideal situation.
Heated seats are one way to make winter driving a bit more bearable. There’s nothing better than driving with your frozen buns roasting on a warm seat. If you’ve ever wondered how these modern engineering marvels function, keep reading to find out.
You want to be as comfortable as possible when driving in your vehicle. However, there are occasions when the HVAC system isn’t able to maintain you at a comfortable temperature. Because that’s where air-conditioning systems come in. These opulent amenities are becoming more frequent in automobiles. They’re explained here.
Related: Best Heated Seat Cushion for Your Cars
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Who was the first to come up with the concept of a heated automobile seat?
He is Robert L. Ballard, the inventor of the fantastic device that makes winter driving a lot more pleasurable. Heated automobile seats were invented by this General Motors employee. By Larry Printz of Hagerty, his concept was patented in 1951.
Besides, he had to wait until 1955 for the patent to be issued by the federal government. Heated seats first appeared in the 1966 Cadillac Fleetwood, a luxury automobile manufactured by General Motors.
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How Heated Seats Work
Heated seats use the same technology as water heaters, hairdryers, and electric blankets, according to Isaiah David of It Still Runs. To begin, the vehicle seat has a component known as a resistor. In most cases, this is a heating coil made up of a long strip of wire that acts as a resistor to the flow of electrical current.
Electricity travels through a circuit to the heating coil when the feature is activated. This causes the system’s relay switch to be flipped by a weak magnetic field. To allow this, the car’s battery must be plugged into a power source such as the resistor.
When heated seats are used, an inbuilt thermostat regulates the temperature of the seat to keep it at a safe level. When the seat reaches a specified temperature, this thermostat turns off the relay switch. When the temperature falls below a certain threshold, the relay switch is triggered.
Car Seat Heater Troubleshooting
The seat heater element, rather than the seat heater switch, is the most common source of problems with heated automobile seats. Checking the heating element entails dismantling the seat, so if the problem persists, bring it to the attention of an auto mechanic.
Initial Checks:
Fuses should be inspected as soon as possible throughout any troubleshooting procedure. Replace a blown fuse as soon as possible.
To rule out this possibility, look for a loose electrical connector behind the heated seat, which connects to the vehicle’s main wire harness. If you have heated seats, make sure that all of the plugs are clean and free of corrosion or debris.
Make sure there is no debris or corrosion on your seat’s electrical plugs before you put the car’s ignition to the “on” position and check that there is enough power to operate the heated seat.
Plugs:
A problem with the seat is obvious if the plug is plugged in and there are no other issues. The best course of action at this time is to take your car to a repair shop.
The most typical issue with heated vehicle seats is a problem with the heating element itself. As a result, the heating wire that powers automobile seats is prone to fracture over time since it is so little and delicate.
You’ll need a professional and certified expert to diagnose and repair this issue with your heated seat in this situation.
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