Experience with slip on heated car seat covers?

Wife's minivan is a pretty bare bones model, cloth seats, no heat. She's OK with it being a base model, but really does like heated seats. She'll often take my car when I'm not using it because it has heated seats. Don't want to pay for a install of seat heaters, you're talking $600-$800 for the pair of front seats. I don't have the time or skills to do it myself...well, I could probably fumble around and get it done, but it would take forever and this is a vehicle driven daily.

I've seen those cheap things at Wal-Mart for $20 that you plop on the seat and plug into the 12V outlet, but they look uncomfortable...kind of thick and bulky. Has anyone bought one that's thinner and more comfortable that works well?

Hardwire it. They blow cig lighter fuses.

You're in Georgia and you need heated seats? Okay, I'm in North Carolina and my wife likes the heated seats in her Highlander. No help on that aftermarket thingy.

You can get a kit for $60-150 and install it under the factory seat cover with just a pair of hog ring pliers. Sometimes you don't even need that if you can get your hand underneath to slide it in. Look for the carbon fiber ones... they don't have a heating element to break over time.

https://www.amazon.com/Sojoy-Universal-Carbon-Insert-Heated/dp/B00W689W80/ref=sr_1_4?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1484158730&sr=1-4&keywords=seat+heater+fiber

I'm about to do this to my new Tacoma - as soon as I can locate some sexy factory looking switches. I didn't buy a kit yet so I cannot say whether the link is a good one... only that the price is right.

Yes, it's pretty quick and easy to DIY.

What model minivan? Some caravans have glue-on seat covers which makes it much more difficult.

Sorry, no experience with the slip on covers.

trucke wrote: You're in Georgia and you need heated seats? Okay, I'm in North Carolina and my wife likes the heated seats in her Highlander. No help on that aftermarket thingy.

Far less than we did in PA, but about 8 weeks out of the year, the mornings are "chilly". My wife gets cold easily...part of the reason we moved south. My car has them, but they came with them when I bought them. I use them from time to time, I've grown to like them. I've tried to tell my wife to just fart in the seat, but that didn't seem to be met with favorable response.

I don't want to get into trying to do it myself. If it doesn't go well or quickly, that'll be bad...really bad. The van is on the go literally 7 days a week.

The newer ones with carbon elements draw very very little power. We have some that came with my wife's Wet Okelee seats. I hardwired the drivers side in on her truck properly, but I stole the passenger side for my truck and just plug it into the cigarette lighter. I forget to unplug it more than I would like to admit and I leave it on all night because the outlet is always on. They don't draw enough power over 14 hours to affect starting at all. I'm impressed with them.

Has there ever been any product that was the cheap $20 Walmart solution that was actually any good at anything? I don't think so.

I put heated seats into Chrissy's Mazda3 a year ago. It wasn't hard if you have the right pliers (I do now) but it wasn't quick. I took the seats out, then apart, then stripped the covers, new hog rings, trimming, and back together. Finding a power source in th car that can handle the load might be simple or might be more complicated depending on the car, it was moderate on the Mazda, not as easy as an old Civic or something.

They are great though, super toasty. We got the Dorman kits from Amazon I think, they were $40 or so.

I'm planning to buy the dorman ones for the truck when i feel the need to waste my time taking my seats apart, my back misses the heated seat in the Avalanche after work.

I wish i could just transplant some chevy seats with heaters and factory switches into the ram, but people want a fortune for worn seats

Heated seats is the only thing stopping me from replacing my OEM seats with racing buckets. Would it be possible to install those seat heaters on a Corbeau, Sparco, or the like?

Sonic wrote: Has there ever been any product that was the cheap $20 Walmart solution that was actually any good at anything? I don't think so. I put heated seats into Chrissy's Mazda3 a year ago. It wasn't hard if you have the right pliers (I do now) but it wasn't quick. I took the seats out, then apart, then stripped the covers, new hog rings, trimming, and back together. Finding a power source in th car that can handle the load might be simple or might be more complicated depending on the car, it was moderate on the Mazda, not as easy as an old Civic or something. They are great though, super toasty. We got the Dorman kits from Amazon I think, they were $40 or so.

You know exactly my situation, so you know what I'm saying. I probably could do it, but if it wasn't quick for you, it'd take an eternity for me. Totally agree the $20 WalMart ones seem like crap, so I'm not bothering with them. Hoping to find a nice and thin one, like a seat cover. If I can find something that I can slip on the seat and she can plug into the 12V, I'm all in. This isn't a "need", but I'd like to do for her if I can find something.

Sky_Render, Is this what you're looking for? Corbeau seat heaters

Call around. We had them installed in the Fiat for $200. I wouldn't try to pull a seat apart for that price.

I used a set I got from some mail order thing when my trucks heater core crapped out in the middle of winter. They were about 20 bucks and they kept me from freezing to death. It's hard to say much about comfort level though as I did have to layer up a bit to keep other exposed parts from the cold. I wouldn't think of them as a long term solution but for $20 I wasn't disappointed

Klayfish wrote: Sky_Render, Is this what you're looking for? Corbeau seat heaters

You, sir, are a gentleman and a scholar.

I'm wondering if you can get the aftermarket ones designed for in seat use, to just overlay on the seat, then cover with a cheap car seat cover.

Having seat heaters in the TDI (almost mandatory in a diesel), I thought I'd miss them in the minivan. However, the cloth seats aren't as cold as the leather in the VW.

Anyway, in lieu of heaters, maybe try a lambs wool seat cover?

Dunno the make/ model of the van but factory seat heaters may be available from dealer parts or online sellers. The van may already have the pigtails for the seat heaters in the harness as well, maybe the switch end too behind the dash but that's easy to wire up yourself.

sachilles wrote: I'm wondering if you can get the aftermarket ones designed for in seat use, to just overlay on the seat, then cover with a cheap car seat cover.

That's what Wet Okelee does when you order seat heaters with their covers. They put Velcro tabs on them which keep them from shifting, which is nice, but probably not necessary. Currently having my back warmed by said seat heater.

In reply to mazdeuce:

I found Wet Okole covers a better insulator against factory cold seats in winter and cooler w/ hot seats in the summer.

Can just imagine what the seat heaters would add.

Great product there.

Klayfish wrote: ...My wife gets cold easily.....

Good lord, there's fodder for an endless thread. Of course she gets cold, they ALL get cold, and are cold pretty much all the time. You know that book "Men are from Mars and women are from Venus"? Well it's literally true and I have proof. On Venus it's really hot, so after being used to that and coming here, sure enough they're cold all the time. Just the opposite for us guys because since Mars is really cold, it seems just fine or too warm here. Indeed, I have this all figured out.

I'm sorry, what was this about?

Zombie thread - canoe removed

This is a good time to point out that seat heaters are friggin' awesome if you have back pain.

It'll be 98 degrees outside and I'll have the A/C and seat heaters both cranked to max   It is soooo decadent.

How many watts do they use ?

Thanks

Some names in the zombie thread are a blast from the past. 

I actually don't find heated seats to be helpful at all. I never feel cold through the seat, not on any of the cloth-seated cars I've had or leather-seated cars I've sat in briefly. Heated steering wheels on the other hand are awesome in the winter. Without them it's like you have to drive the car by gripping an ice-cold stone for the first half-hour.

Cooled seats are awesome in the summer however. The same effect that causes the seat not to feel cold in the winter makes your contact with the seat feel extra hot and sweaty in the summer. I used to have an addon fan-cooled seat cover for my Samurai and it was awesome in the swampy tropical jungle heat, although I didn't like how it effectively made the seat taller and thicker and would shift out of place sometimes. This is the only "luxury" seat feature I wish all my cars had. There are kits to add fan cooling to existing car seats but they require far more extensive mods to the seat than the Dorman/Corbeau seat heater kits and are much more expensive up front too.