DIY: Heated seat install, 04 Aveo hatch

[Rampelsauce]

Hey all, figured I'd do a forum post on how to install heated seats in your aveo. You'll learn to hate bull rings and love zip ties. I will be updating this as I go through the process.

You'll need:
An amazon heated seat kit Tech Era Carbon Fiber Seat Heater Kit Hi/Lo Setting, 2 Seats
A 12mm socket or wrench
A pair of trusty side cutters
A nail clipper (very important for clipping zipties)
Zipties
Phillips head screw driver
Needle nose pliers or strong long tweezers
A nice open place to work on a chair (living room floor works well)

Step 1: Unbolt your seat with a 12mm tool of choice. If this seems scary, stop now.
Step 2: Bring your seat somewhere wide open enough to slide it around and have it folded flat. I chose my living room floor.
Step 3: Start by unclipping your seat back cover from behind the seat. Very easy if the seat is folded all the way forward.
Step 4: Unscrew seat trim. Three phillips head screws on one side, two on the other. (this applies to the passenger seat).
Step 5: Start with the seat back, it's easier. Push the clips and extra fabric up through the seat crack with the seat still leaned forward. Then lay the seat flat and pull the fabric up. Now you're ready to start pulling up. You will notice the nice little crease about 2/3 of the way up the seat. This is a metal bar in the seat cover that is attached by three bull rings to a metal bar in the seat foam.

Step 6: While pulling up slowly, press the foam from the bolsters down and work the cover up. The first obstacle you'll hit is these two Velcro strips that hold the seat cover tight in the small of your back. Push down on the Velcro and slowly pull the cover outward. If you aren't careful you will rip the velcro strips off.
Step 7: at this point your seat cover should be pulled up high enough to start clipping the bull rings. Do that. Pull the cover up a little higher, but do not try to remove it.

Now you're ready to continue to placing your heating pad for the backrest. With the Amazon kit I purchased, I found that the first row of wire mesh terminates at about the perfect location to cut some holes to route your zipties through. More on that in the next post.

[Rampelsauce]

When you install the seat back heating pad, you will have to cut a couple of holes so you can re-secure the metal bar back down to the seat in order for it to keep its contours. I used zipties instead of the crappy bull rings used by the factory. Make sure you buy high quality zipties, and make sure they are 8-12" long. Short and small zipties are hard to work with and break easily. Once you've done two seats, you'll only want to do this once.

Step 1: lay your seat pad out and visualize how you're going to place it. You'll want to mark a couple areas to make slits in the heating pad to secure the bar back to the...uh bar. For the amazon kit I used, this was right below the first row of heating wire mesh.
Step 2: it will be obvious where to cut the slits, as each area where there was a bull ring, you will be installing a zip the. This is a pain in the butt, so be patient and try not to curse. The areas where the zip ties go is really obvious, but routing them through sucks.
Step 3: With the zip ties very loosely secured, pull off the tape to expose the adhesive backing. Tear it just below the zip ties in order to keep everything tight, but the bottom open for adjustment. Pull the zip ties tight. Make.sure to peel the rest of the tape and stick it to the seat, pulling it snug.

Step 4: slowly work the seat cover down, making sure to massage the foam back into place. Be sure to press in on those Velcro strips once you have it pulled down sufficiently.

Leave the bottom open. It will make it easier while working on the bottom portion of the seat. If it looks a little loose on the seat back, don't worry. Once you pull everything tight, it will look factory.

[Rampelsauce]

The seat bottom. I did the majority of my cursing here. There are about 18 bull rings to cut in different areas. Getting the cover off the lower part of the seat is a slow process, as is the re-installation. Take your time.

Step 1: there's a ton of rings on the bottom. Clip them and discard them. This will loosen the back of the lower cover.
Step 2: push the material from the bottom to the top. I've found that once you get a couple of the flaps up, you can just pull it straight up. You'll encounter your first set of 3 rings here. Cut those.
Step 3: You won't get far without encountering two rings on either side of the seat. Clip these and keep moving.
Step 4: Unclip the front half of the seat cover. Only remove the sides. If you pull it all the way off it will.be a nightmare working it back on. Now you can roll the cover forward far enough to get to your last 5 bull rings.


Now you're ready to put in your lower heater pad. Same as the seat back, you will have to cut some slits to run your zip ties through.

[Rampelsauce]

Installing the lower pad is kind of a pain, but you're so close to having a seat that looks like you did nothing to it. Once again I recommend taking off the first section of tape and sticking the front of the pad down.

Step 1: stick the front of the pad down and cut your 3 slits tor your 3 zip ties. You'll also need to put your 2 side zip ties in at this point. Pull it all down tight, while applying firm rearward pressure on the seat cover to stretch it.
Step 2: peel off the rest of your tape and set the pad in place. Use 5 more zip ties to get the 2 side and 3 back bars in the cover pulled into place. Once again, pull back slightly while you tighten your zip ties.
Step 3: Clip the front of the seat cover down.
Step 4: cut reliefs in the foam for the wires coming from the pads.
Step 5: pull the seat cover back through the sides and back and secure. Now you can finish pulling the seat back cover down and re attaching. Put your plastic side covers back on and you're done. Look at you go, you superstar.

[Rampelsauce]

Okay, this is where I'm stopping for today. This is just showing how I ran the wires and located the switches. I try to do a step by step the best I can.

Step 1: do this with the seats both out. Just makes life easier.
Step 2: remove the rear screw and front two screws. The two covers next to the shifter don't need to be removed.
Step 3: remove the brake an shift boots. Shift boot pulls straight up, cut the zip tie holding the top and pull up. Ebrake boot pulls up and over.
Step 4: Unbolt the e brake lever by removing the 12mm bolts securing it to the body. Make sure your car doesn't roll away. Twist the center console counter clockwise and work it out.
Step 5: locate your wiring.

I located my switches in my dash on those little side panels. Here's how that looks.

That's all for today. I will be running power to the seats tomorrow. Thanks for looking at my pictures. I'll be adding more stuff soon and editing some posts. Not sure why in the last photo my buttons don't look the same height. I measured them and everything. Hmm.

[xintersecty]

Brilliant! Nicely done with pictures. I came up with a solution for heated seats. I bought a very used 2006 Grand Cherokee. I am looking forward to part II. I do like where you put the switches.

[Rampelsauce]

Anyone have any input where to tap these heated seats in? Each set of pads is fused by a 10a fuse. Not sure where the accessory power is in this car just yet. I was thinking about using the 12v power port in the center console, but I don't know if that will support both.

[xintersecty]

I would not run your power from anything inside the car. Unless you can find the circuit dedicated to seat warmers. I would run it off the battery past the 100 AMP fuse. I had to do this for my BA FU horn that installed to gain the attention of texting drivers.

[Rampelsauce]

Is the 100 amp fuse circuit controlled by the key. This is in case I leave the heaters on, i don't want to come back to a flat battery.

[xintersecty]

Is the 100 amp fuse circuit controlled by the key. This is in case I leave the heaters on, i don't want to come back to a flat battery.

I don't remember. I will have to test that.