Heated seats not working

[Stric_IX]

I too am having this same problem with the heated seats.  It's a '14 Denali with the heated and cooled seats.  My cooled seats work just fine on the driver and passenger side.  The heated portion doesn't work at all on either side on the bottom or seat back.  Are the seats heated similar to the way they are cooled by having hot air blown through the perforations as opposed to cooled air?  Or is it a heating element against the leather that heats the seats?  I've read through all 14 pages and other threads about this issue and have seen conflicting things.  If it works via blown air then my blowers don't come on in heated mode but do come on in cooled mode.  I haven't taken mine to be fixed yet because I wanted to see if there was something that I could check first, that and the heat index has been in the triple digits here so no need for heated seats yet.

[Tahoe02]

Heating element.

[Sierra Dan]

1 hour ago, Stric_IX said:

I too am having this same problem with the heated seats.  It's a '14 Denali with the heated and cooled seats.  My cooled seats work just fine on the driver and passenger side.  The heated portion doesn't work at all on either side on the bottom or seat back.  Are the seats heated similar to the way they are cooled by having hot air blown through the perforations as opposed to cooled air?  Or is it a heating element against the leather that heats the seats?  I've read through all 14 pages and other threads about this issue and have seen conflicting things.  If it works via blown air then my blowers don't come on in heated mode but do come on in cooled mode.  I haven't taken mine to be fixed yet because I wanted to see if there was something that I could check first, that and the heat index has been in the triple digits here so no need for heated seats yet.

There are heating pads (elements) in both the seat cushion and back.

Mine were replaced under warranty. The elements within the pads had an open circuit. Poor design I hear.

The seat heat in the 14' and '15 trucks with cooling also, simply do not work well.

 

[dave07]

Last night I was coming home from a meeting at our fire station. I remote started my truck to get it warmed up and then turned on the heated seats. A few miles down the road, the heating element got really really hot and started to burn my butt, there was even a burning smell in my cab. Anyway, this morning my heated seat does NOT work!

 

Nice engineering GM, 1000 miles and 1 month out of warranty. I was thinking of ditching my Silverado for a Ram anyway, this makes it a little easier, lol. 

[TruckStuff4516]

Last night I was coming home from a meeting at our fire station. I remote started my truck to get it warmed up and then turned on the heated seats. A few miles down the road, the heating element got really really hot and started to burn my butt, there was even a burning smell in my cab. Anyway, this morning my heated seat does NOT work!
 
Nice engineering GM, 1000 miles and 1 month out of warranty. I was thinking of ditching my Silverado for a Ram anyway, this makes it a little easier, lol. 

Did the dealer ever tell you what exactly happened? Sounds like a bend/crease/cut in the heater mat res-wire caused a hotspot. Not cool (pun intended).


2018 GMC Sierra - Elevation Edition

[dave07]

Did the dealer ever tell you what exactly happened? Sounds like a bend/crease/cut in the heater mat res-wire caused a hotspot. Not cool (pun intended).


2018 GMC Sierra - Elevation Edition

I ended up doing the work myself. What you said is accurate, some sort of tear in the heating element. I could see where it started to burn through and where it started to burn the foam cushion. Crazy!


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[Doug O]

I have a 2014 Sierra Denali with heat / cooled seats. The heated seats both quit working, both just the seat, not the back rest. But the cooling did work.

Many hours in the shop testing circuits it was found that they both failed.

Here's the interesting part where I feel GMC needs to step up and correct.

Both seat warming elements were damaged in 2 places. They were directly under the stitching seam where pieces of leather are sewn together. The seams make a downward imprint which presses into the heating element. The seam directly under your butt did the failure damage, on both seats, severing the element and causing failure. Avoidable, frustrating, and no recalls.

GMC should recognize the issue and fix them.

After reading the many posts from people with failing seat warmers there is no way GMC can claim they don't know about it.

C'mon GMC, do what's right, admit to this and fix them with a repair recall. For a 50K + price tag I would think they could take care if it.

[jyamaharider713]

Have the same issue 2014 Silverado 1500 high country with 40K I just bought the truck have less then 5k on it. I noticed from the first week of owning it that the heated seats weren't as good as my 2006 sierra. 

 

Anyway both seats are having problems. Driver seats doesn't heat at all. Passenger side back sometimes works. Ac on both sides is fine. Are there any checks i can do before i go and rip the seats apart and replace the elements? Ive checked fuses and made sure connectors are fine. I see that some people were taking resistance readings of the elements? What connectors would i be using and what reading am i looking for?

 

Thanks for the help!

Edited January 3, 2020 by jyamaharider713