After-market passenger seat bottom won't heat?

[marsch55]

Just got my Rogue S, basic stuff but wanted heated seats. Dealer had after-market leather heated seats put in. The bottom and the back of the driver seat heats very well, but on the passenger side, only the back heats up. The switch lights up as it should, green for low and yellow for high. I called the installer and they said because of a sensor for the passenger side airbag, the bottom cannot be wired for heat. Does this make sense - is this actually true? It would have been nice to have been told this by the dealer - I may have gone with the whole Premium package and may have considered the SL. So is there any way to warm up my passenger's butt with these after-market seats? Thanks.

[philipa_240sx]

I called the installer and they said because of a sensor for the passenger side airbag, the bottom cannot be wired for heat. Does this make sense - is this actually true?

No, it doesn't since the factory seats come with heaters for the passenger seat cushion... my wife can attest they do work!

My guess is it's a liability issue with the installer. By not installing the cushion portion of the heater they are avoiding lawsuits.

BTW, heated cloth seats are part of the SL trim on Canadian models. I didn't need to order a leather upgrade to get them.

[desiguy]

I don't know if this is normal but when I set my heated seats to high or low I always get the same orange light.

Is this supposed to be like that or am I suppose to have a green light as well. SL AWD Canada model

[Kirk in Iowa]

He is actually telling you the truth.

I have a Murano and a Rogue. Neither came with heated seats. The dealer installed the heated seats in the Murano, but would't touch them in the Rogue. He told me the Rogue factory heated seats are different than the ones without the heaters.

Said he couldn't properly put the heaters in with the air bags / sensors in the Rogue seats.

I'd love to have them in the Iowa winters too!

Kirk

[philipa_240sx]

I now see the issue...

According to the FSM, the occupant classification sensor for the airbag AND the seat heater is part of the seat cushion and there is a specific warning that it cannot be removed from the seat frame. You would have to replace the entire seat cushion and frame assembly with a unit that has the heater! Very $$$.

Initially I thought it had something to do with higher temperatures from the heater itself, but it appears it could interfere with occupant sensor for the airbag. This is likely why Nissan integrated the two... it's the only way to do it so both will work properly.

Re: LED colors

Mine are orange only. No green. I believe this is a feature of the aftermarket system marsch88 had installed.
Modified by philipa_240sx at 1:04 PM 3/25/2008

[marsch55]

I guess I still don't understand, Philipa. Maybe I need to describe my situation in more detail:

My Rogue came with un-heated cloth seats. (basic S model). I wanted heated seats, but not the expense of the Leather Package and Premium Packages. Factory heated seats are within the LEATHER package option. Was told you can't get Leather package without also getting Premium package - adding an additional $4000 to the price. (What's with that - another topic!)

The salesperson said they can have aftermarket LEATHER HEATED seats put in. In other words, another company (Classic Soft Trim) removed the cloth seats (the whole seats, didn't just upholster) and put in leather heated seats. It is not a heating bottom pad or heated cushion that was added to the factory cloth seat; the entire seats were changed out, not just cushions.

Still don't understand why airbag sensor and seat bottom heater cannot both be operational as they are on the factory leather seats. What is different about aftermarket. Thanks for your patience and explanation to a non-techie person!

[marsch55]

Forgot to add...philipa, not sure what you mean by "very $$$", but I consider $1200 for aftermarket leather/heated seats pretty pricey, and expected to have heated bottoms and backs for both driver and passenger. This should not have been a surprise to me and should have been explained by salesperson, wouldn't you think?

I agree on the LED colors - yellow for low and green for high refers to the button on the sides of the aftermarket seats, facing out toward the doors.

[philipa_240sx]

I looked at the Classic Soft Trim website. It appears they only make leather upholstery for OEM seats, they don't produce an entire seat. They also clearly have an 'OEM sponsored' agreement to produce leather upholstery for Nissan vehicles.

As for the heaters, they must be produced by another mfg. as Classic does not have any listed on their website.

Anyway, getting back to the question at hand...

I did a bit of research and the occupant classification system used on passenger seats can be influenced by seat heaters. The heaters have to be carefully integrated with the occupant sensors for them to work properly. It is also against federal law to tamper with or impair the operation of any safety system (airbags, etc) on a vehicle. This would also prevent the installation of any aftermarket seats, hence why I think the dealer just recovered the OEM ones using Classic's leather upholstery. IMHO the dealer did the right thing by not installing the seat cushion heater. They should have explained this in advance to you.

Now how do you fix this? The only way to get the heater to work is to replace the seat with an OEM Nissan seat with the heater AND the occupant classification system built in. Maybe the dealer can help here.

[marsch55]

Thanks for the good explanation, philip. I will go back to my dealer and see if they are willing to do anything to remedy this. I like the fix you suggest, but am sure they will tell me it 'can't be done' or will want to make me pay for it. I love the car, but unfortunately have had to deal with a stereotypical glad-handing salesperson who has left a little to be desired. Congrats also on being the new mod!