Factory Heated Seats Failure

Bumping this for the update

 

Firstly I want to thank you for your photo journal of how to fix this. I unfortunately joined the club this week with the exact same issue as everyone else. Going to attempt to make some noise at the local parts department but good to know that I can follow your guide and fix it this way if I need to.

Do you happen to know the TSB associated with this?

 

Tried my hand at the resolder fix to keep wifes seat toasty. Spent way more time on this than I care to admit. Most time spent removing the connector on the board. Cutting, melting, prying and cursing. Took awhile to get the solder joints neat and clean. I used 9inch or so of 14G. The 2013 sport has 5 wires at the connector. Soldered all 5. Used some snake/braid to cover the bundle. Zip tied everything back up under the seat nicely cause I butchered a few of the original harness mounts.

Thank you Tacomaworld people. This fix was cheap as free and wife is happy with her hot butt again.




only did passenger side for now. Will try keeping heaters under 80%,it might help?

 

T-SB-0130-18

Remember to fix both side at the same time,

 

Add me to the list of driver’s seat heater amp failures. Like others, suddenly stopped working when needed most. Passenger seat works fine, even on hottest setting. No help from stealership but would be happy to repair for normal labor rate plus parts. New Amp about $140 from dealer. Available on line for around $100. Notified NHTSA. Surprised to see a significant percentage of notices are related to heat amp failure. My opinion, this fire hazard should be a recall. I plan to repair amp as detailed in thread first and replace if unsuccessful. Shout out to TW community for education first and keeping money in our pockets second.

 

I just came across this thread because the heated seats just went out on my 2016 OR. I'm kind of glad I'm not the only one to have this but disappointed at the same time.

 

Wow! Sounds like you were one of the lucky ones to have it lasted that long.

 

After reading through this I'm quite surprised. I just bought the truck a year ago from someone and it only had a little over 40k miles on it. I've basically had the driver seat turned on all winter and just noticed the other day that it wasn't working.

 

Then the original owner may have had to replace it once already. I now run mine on the 2nd setting and haven't burned out another box yet. YET!

 

Hmmm. Maybe I should consider only using the second setting to help preserve the heated seats on my 2020?

 

Hi myself generally never gravitate towards heat or anything heat related. But I have lower spinal damage, so it was a welcoming feeling to have a vehicle with heated seats, so I would constantly have mine and three baking, my lower back while on my way to work.

 

Yeah, I definitely used mine as more of a heating pad than anything else.

 

Welp.. another drivers side heated seat failure to add to the list. This is in a 2nd gen '15. Ended up wiring 16ga leads to the heater amp and so far so good. Passenger side will be next.

 

I'm happy to see this thread but sad too lol... my driver side just went out on my 2016 trd OR. I live in the mtns in CO and it has been cold this winter, and for sure noticed right away my seat was frozen one morning going to work! I guess I'm not surprised as I run mine on high basically 8 months of the year, it seems lucky it lasted this long.

Any reports of trucks burning down from this? Seems sketchy that they are clearly aware this is happening with no real recall. My garage is under my house basically and makes me feel wary of parking in there and burning the house down

 

Not that i have heard, but yes should be a recall item. Mine lasted 4 years about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3eC35LoF4U

 

thanks for the idea, I just did my drivers side and it worked.

 

How is there not a recall on this? It seems like a fire hazard.

 

Because nobody is actually taking the time to start a case file. It’s multiple case files that take a SBR to the point where it actually becomes a recall or they just quietly change it as in the very lacking 3 leaf leaf spring suspensions of the
3rd gens until 2011.

 

If you go to post #91 in this thread, you will find all of the information you need to start a case file. It’s actually quite easy.

 

This appears to only apply to trucks older than 2019 right?