Heated seats not working

[pm26]

Son of a gun.

 

This thread makes me realize that I need to take mine to a GMC dealer. Seat heaters are slow to response (seat heaters in my '5 CTS-V are superior), don't work when the engine is running after remotely started (yes, they are turned on in the setting), and only work halfway up the back on both front seats.

 

It's a '15 Sierra 1500 SLE with only 1.7k miles which I bought Dec 1. Seat heaters are just one issue among other things.

Please list other issues you have with the truck. I am really interested to see if GM has done much to repair the known 2014 truck issues.

Edited December 19, 2014 by pm26

[POS VETT]

Below is the list of items I have. Some are about a feature performance adjustment, others may need R&R

 

1. Seat heaters problems

2. Steering wheel is crooked when going straight, it doesn't pull

3. Vibration frequencies that change rhythmically

4. HMI has intermittent crashing problem

5. Throttle tip-in and manual-mode shifts are very lazy

6. Front hub carriers/knuckles start to develop corrosion

7. Auto headlight and DRL delete

8. Stabilitrak needs to stay completely off regardless of speed until the next engine start cycle

 

Being an owner of multi GM vehicles (including three Corvettes, two are Z06), I'm actually expecting the usual response from a servicing dealer along the lines of "that's normal", "problem couldn't be duplicated", and "the problem could be duplicated but we don't know how to repair it". Long stories behind those.

 

So far, I'm now accustomed to asking this question, "is it a failure or a feature?"

[4x4Hank]

Well, I picked up my truck yesterday on the way home from the airport and unfortunately it is only half fixed! The seat bottom is fixed but the back still doesn't work. The original testing shows that the seat heater was drawing 20 OHMS and the number is supposed to be closer to 6 OHMS so there definately was a problem. However now I have another problem because I work out of town and only get home every 2-3 weeks so I either have to take the truck in and leave it there and go without my truck while I am home for the holidays, or leave it there when I go back out of town and have someone pick it up for me. This is extremely inconvenient since they had the truck this last time almost two weeks, plenty of time to fix it right the first time. Not happy!

[jj46]

After having my truck sit at the dealership for two weeks, the seats are somewhat working. They replaced all four heating pads (I have heated & cooled seats), said all four were "burned out". When I asked if they need to be looking at the control module or whatever feeds them voltage to make sure there isn't a problem, I was told that GM said they had a bad batch of these heating pads.

 

All of that said... the performance of these heated seats is still very disappointing. They are way too slow to warm up, and they never get all that warm on high. I have 19k on my truck already (it's a year old), and I will be out of warranty by this time next year.

Edited December 23, 2014 by jj46

[4x4Hank]

After having my truck sit at the dealership for two weeks, the seats are somewhat working. They replaced all four heating pads (I have heated & cooled seats), said all four were "burned out". When I asked if they need to be looking at the control module or whatever feeds them voltage to make sure there isn't a problem, I was told that GM said they had a bad batch of these heating pads.

 

All of that said... the performance of these heated seats is still very disappointing.

 

I agree with you jj. I have 3 other cars with heated seats and they all work much better and faster than the seats in my Silverado. The dealer had my truck 2 weeks as well and the seat bottom was somewhat fixed and the seat back doesn't work at all ( it's going back in after the New Year). If GM told you that about the seats, I know that it's not a safety concern so they won't issue a recall but there should be some kind of service bulletin about the performance of these seats. These vehicles are way too expensive to have items like this underperform.

[mrp2004]

I am still waiting after a week for the parts to came in. No heating seats so far this winter.

[POS VETT]

I took my '15 in this morning after a brief communication with GM Customer Care which occured last week. The truck was adjusted/calibrated/updated for most issues and I was lucky enough to be able to be present during the process since the mechanic is a good friend of mine. I was shown a side of the inner working of diagnosis for these trucks, the mechanic side.

 

In a nutshell, the seat heaters in mine work like they're supposed to; whether they have met the expectations of some or most people here is a different story. I admit that the seat heaters in my 10-year-old CTS-V trump over those of the truck. They also don't turn on when the truck has been started remotely, but the mechanic said he would check into it as the wording in the owner's manual indicated when it's cold. How cold is "cold"? Well, that's the question.

 

That's all I got for seat heaters.

[4x4Hank]

I took my '15 in this morning after a brief communication with GM Customer Care which occured last week. The truck was adjusted/calibrated/updated for most issues and I was lucky enough to be able to be present during the process since the mechanic is a good friend of mine. I was shown a side of the inner working of diagnosis for these trucks, the mechanic side.

In a nutshell, the seat heaters in mine work like they're supposed to; whether they have met the expectations of some or most people here is a different story. I admit that the seat heaters in my 10-year-old CTS-V trump over those of the truck. They also don't turn on when the truck has been started remotely, but the mechanic said he would check into it as the wording in the owner's manual indicated when it's cold. How cold is "cold"? Well, that's the question.

That's all I got for seat heaters.

The seat heaters in my wife's 2015 Equinox work with remote start but it feels like they are possibly on low when you get in, which actually is just fine with me. At least the seats are warm when you get in and after you put the key in you can put them on high if desired. Even with that, the Equinox seats on low work far better than my Silverado seats do when on high for extended periods. And as POS VETT's 10 year old CTS-V worked better than his new truck, for 9 years our 2005 Trailblazer seats flawlessly outperformed the Silverado seats hands down.

 

If GM is working on a fix for this problem fine. Hopefully it won't take long. If they don't give a crap because it's not a life-threatening problem then we may all be SOL.

[Onut231]

The Dealership has repaired my bottom heated seat on the drivers side on 2 Jan 15. So far so good. I hope it stays that way. I will update as the winter goes on.

[Newell33]

Was the heating element replaced, or was something else causing the problem?

[CaptainCanuck]

Agree the heated seats don't perform like they used too. Noticed that the seats were freezing after a remote start, so I wanted to verify if they were on. So I remote started it while sitting in it, and the seat got toasty warm after a few minutes.

 

So your butt needs to be in the seat to retain the heat. Working as intended.

 

Drive safe.

[diggman08]

so if you remote start from inside your house, and its 15 degrees outside, theres a good chance your seat will be ice cold.. until you get in and turn them on. ( GARBAGE)!!!

[TJay74]

t has to be colder than 32° for the seats to turn on I believe. As the previous poster stated, they are on during remote start but unless you are sitting in the seat the cushions will not get warm.

[Onut231]

Was the heating element replaced, or was something else causing the problem?

the paper work states: Drivers Seat Cushin Heating Element Open Circuit Internally. The dealer ship had to the part. Took over a week to get it in... worked very well this morning thank goodness. It was 12 in Atlanta when I went to work. The seats felt nice.

 

Was the heating element replaced, or was something else causing the problem?

[4x4Hank]

My 2014 has been in the shop all week. They admitted that the seatback heater was not working at all. We are waiting for parts.

It sounds like there are soooo many problems with these new Silverado heated seats. I never had problems with and of my cars with heated seats before.