Heated Seats

[KATYB]

Any help would be much appreciated 😊

I've just bought a 12 month old IQ3 after previously owning 2 IQ2's

On collection of the vehicle I noticed it had heated seats I thought great !

Unfortunately they don't heat up although the lights illuminate on the switches

I booked it in with my local toyota dealer and visited them today after checking the seats I was told they are working but will only heat up for 20 seconds to avoid over heating and I may not notice the heat in the summer and try them again in winter!

Is this true or complete rubbish ? My husband does not believe this could be true

The seats do not get hot at all surely you would now if they are warm. He said you wouldn't notice in the summer due to the 20 second setting!!

Hope someone can advise

Thanks Katy

[tarquin]

Its rubbish. The seats heaters are manually controlled and are fixed thermostatically sensed. The heating elements are in the back upright and the part you sit on. Some are all 4 seats populated some are front only. The led is powered from a different circuit than the heating elements so could be fuse related. You should feel them with-in 30 sec of switch on

David

[KATYB]

Thanks for that David

I can't believe the rubbish I've been told hubby has checked the fuses. It's looking like I will have to try a different toyota dealer

[tarquin]

There are 2 fuse boxes. One in ehe engine bay next to the Battery and tbe other hidden in the dashboard to the ledt of the passenger footwell. I will go and check my workshop manual to see which ones govern the seats. The heated seats is a rare added on accessory so Toyota techs are not familier with it. It is in fact a simple circuit. What part of the country do you live

David

[tarquin]

Hi again i have just looked at the circuit diagram for the heated seats and as predicted it has a simple operation and are as i said they are thermostatically controlled. Now it could be that its not cold enough yet. One way to check depending if your husband is ok using a volt meter or not. There are 2 wires one each coming from the heater switches. The left hand side seats are on a thickish green wire and the right hand side the seats are fed with a thickish pink wire

Under the right hand side seat on a connector you will find the green wire and on a connector on left hand side under the seat you will see a blue wire. ( on the green wires journey it changes to blue)

With the engine running you should see 12volts on both of those cables once the heater switches have been turned on. Measurement is made with a meter between chassis and the green and pink wires.

If you find 12volts on these wires then either all four heating pads are open circuit (very unlikely) or the built in thermostat is off due to ambient temperature. In which case you will have to wait til it gets propper cold.

Tip. An easier way to measure the pink and green wires is to prise the switches out of the consol with a flat blade (butter knife) and measure them on the switch

There are 3 other wires on the switches. A black one, a white/black one and a purple/violet one.

Make sure the plug with the pink and green wire on is pushed home securely

If there is 12v ok on the green and pink wires then the problem is the actual seets as i said before, its either the connectors at the seats, faulty heated elements themselves or its not cold enough

If you still have problems after checking then pm me and i will call you to help

Btw. If the led's on the switches are both on then the 16A fuse is ok and the only fuse associated with the heated seats

David

[KATYB]

Hi David,

Thanks a lot for all that information hubby is currently plastering one of the rooms at home. But once he's finished we will defiantly follow your instructions and test them.

We live in Rainford a village in between St Helens & Ormskirk, Merseyside

I've phoned another local dealer this morning and he said the heating for 20 seconds is complete rubbish! The car is booked with them nxt Friday but if we can sort it first no need for it to go in

I will let you know how we get on thanks again Katy

[tarquin]

I asked your location because if you were nearby i would do it for you for free. Unfortunately i live in Essex a million miles away lol. A bit more info. When you start the engine or press the start button twice without touching the pedals, a relay is engaged and applies power to the heater switches on the black and purple wires. When you press the heater switches power passes through the switches and lights up the led's in the switches and carries on down the green and pink wires to the heat pads in the seats. So if the led's on the switches are on, then all that is left in the circuit is the heat pads. After checking if the connector hasn't come off the back of the heater switches, then you could , with a meter on resistance you could measure between chassis and the pink wire, and chassis and green wire, if you have a resistance showing then it suggests the pads should be working. If there is no reading even by swapping the red and black wires on the meter around then it suggests that either the heat pads are dead or its still to warm a climate or cables going to the seats are disconnected. If you know when he will be working on it i can call him on the phone and guide him. Just pm me a phone number to call. Taking it to the dealer should be avoided as you could ring up a bill for nothing.

Btw just to confirm. The circuit has no timers in it whatsoever

David

[tarquin]

More info. You fed up yet?

Check under the seats to see if previous owner hasn't disconnected the connectors especially if the plug on the back of the heater switch is on ok

David

[KATYB]

Hi David, sorry for the late reply checked everything last night followed your instructions there's no power at either seat but the switches light up. It's still under Toyota warranty so will take it in on Friday to hopefully a dealer that understands.

I've spoken to there service manager and I've every confidence as he's been in Toyota service for 22 years. He seemed to know what I was talking about and said he may need to strip the seats down to find the problem ?

Thanks once again Katy

[tarquin]

Hi Katy

Did you take the seat heater switch out and made sure the push on connector with the wires on is fully pushed on the switch?

Its very odd as the blue and green wire from the switch go off in different directions

Will you let us know the out come

David

[KATYB]

Hi David,

The car went in yesterday one of the seats has been stripped down even the dealership are baffled, the other is being stripped on Monday to try to get to the bottom of the problem. Will keep you updated

Thanks Katy

[tarquin]

Hi Katy

Stranger and stranger. They obviously don't understand how the car is wired. Each seat is wired separately from the the dual switch a pink +volts wire one side and a blue wire on the other side the only thing in common to both is the -neg return via the chassis. They only had to disconnect the wire under each of the front seats and using a standard multimeter set to resistance, measure the elements in each seat. It should read around 10,000 ohms. If not the element is dead

10min job

It worries me that people have to pay hours of labour costs for these sort of diagnostics. Lucky you just got it. And is under warranty

Please let me know the outcome

David

[tarquin]

Oh one other word about the seats is when you get the car back make sure your happy with the seat re-fit because if they have removed the seat covers you generally need upholsterers tools to stretch them back on properly

David

[KATYB]

Thanks for that will do still not heared from the dealer yet hopefully will know something today

[tarquin]

Katy

Any news

David

[KATYB]

Hi David,

The car is still with the dealers they have contacted toyota with regards to putting complete new seats in the car. I am waiting for them to contact me will let you know the outcome as soon as I hear anything.

Katy

[tarquin]

Were the front 2 the only heated ones? As it is showing add on circuitry for the rear as well. Which is an option. I cant believe all 4 heating pads are dead in the front seats. Toyota along with other car manufacturers/dealers do have a tendency to swap things out when they have little knowledge on how things work

David

[KATYB]

Yes just the two front ones I can't believe both are faulty it's very strange, I'm just waiting for some contact from them I will let you know when I hear anything .

[iQ-Chris]

I'll be interested to read the outcome on this one :)

Chris

[KATYB]

Update: turned out there were no heat elements in either seat although all the wires and controls were present. Toyota were unable to supply cloth seats with the elements and don't know how the car came from the factory like this. An agreement has been made to put leather seats in the IQ I'm just waiting for a phone call to collect the car. The dealer has been great and is going to collect the car and leave me with a courtesy car whist it's all sorted. Took a long time and a lot of hassle but at last it should be over very soon :)

[iQ-Chris]

Wow, they're replacing your cloth seats with leather? That's an amazing result. Well done :)

Chris

2012 iQ² with red leather upholstery ☆ upgraded interior lighting ☆ white backlit dashboard/switches ☆ auto-folding mirrors ☆ keyless entry ☆ chrome exhaust ☆

[tarquin]

What a great result for you Katy !! For me on a purely technical angle, if there were no elements in the seats then there were no connectors for the left and right cables to connect to or to measure. Think they would have noticed that in .0000000000001 of a sec. Rather than days scratching their heads and inconveniencing you. All came good for you in the end. The leather, love it or hate it will make your car look upgraded and prestigious.

David

[KATYB]

Thanks for all your replys 😊

I do love leather seats my first two IQ's had leather one red leather the second black so looking forward to the finished product!

I bought this IQ as I wanted the sat nav / bluetooth if I could of found a car with the leather too that would of been my choice but I couldn't find one that ticked all the boxes.

David, I think the whole situation got very confusing I wish you had lived nearer, one dealer said they were fine only heating for 20 seconds even I was stupid enough to put my hand on the seat whilst they asked me could I not feel the heat! Someone else thought the metal springs under the seat were the heater elements !

I can only thank the last dealer who actually listened and fought the case with Toyota for me. It's now been passed back to the supplying dealer they have been great too

orginising the leather to be fitted.

[tarquin]

Its interesting that the car was 12month old when you bought it and whoever ordered it from new would have ordered the heated seats as an extra. I wonder how many times they put their hands on the seats and said " oh i think they are getting a bit warm dear" " Don't be daft George, its because you have been sitting on them for the past 10mins"

It takes me back to my usual rant about dealers not employing professional electronics engineers and overcharging per hour while "engineers" learn on your car at your expense. Warranty here but could be you

David

[KATYB]

Apparently Toyota said that heated seats in an IQ have never been an option and don't know how the car ended up as it did!

One of my arguments was that they supplied a number of IQ's to Aston Martin to turn into the cygnet and my centre console is identical to those in the cygnet with Toyota heated seat switches. I've also found another IQ2 on the Internet with heated seats switches and cloth seats !!!! I'm baffled

Surely engineers employed buy Toyota should know the product that they work on inside out ? The first guy who told me they heated for twenty seconds even tried to adjust the heat with the headlight adjustment wheel near the start button! Until I pointed out it was actually for the headlights by then I had lost all confidence in a dealer who I've used many times in the passed and always trusted.