MotoringFile reader and contributor Mike Craven shares with us the trials and tribulations of retrofitting heated seats in a MINI:
Okay, I’ve just completed the retrofit of the heated seats in my wife’s 2005 MCS yesterday and everything is working perfectly (and on the first try too! GRIN). The installation of the wiring harness and the new switch was straight forward (although probably not for the faint of heart as you really have to tear apart the interior of your car in order to install them) The retrofit instructions (i.e. the PDF which can be downloaded from Motoringfile.com) are spot on with only a few confusing parts (where you are kind of just left hanging and aren’t really sure of what to do next).
The retrofit took me a total of around four hours (the instructions claim three, and I could probably could do it again in under two now that I know what I’m doing) using a replacement set of all black leatherette seats (taken out of another MINI) that included the heating elements. It would have been quicker, but I was taking my time and making sure that everything was done properly, and I had to swap the seatbelt pieces and their wiring harnesses over to the new seats as they were removed by the previous owner from the replacement seats (which is common in the aftermarket racing seats you’ll find on the market as the original seatbelt pieces are needed when adding in replacement Sparcos, Recaros, etc.).
I’m VERY happy with the heated seats and so is my wife. They work wonderfully! If anyone has any specific questions on the retrofit (such as where the X33 connector is located, how to do the install/replace the seats without having the airbag warning light come on, etc.), I’d be more than happy to help you out. Either post a note here or send me an e-mail.
BTW, the factory installed price of $270 for the heated seats has got to be the biggest bargain out of all of the options that are available for the MINI. If you’re in the market for a new MINI, I HIGHLY/STRONGLY suggest that you add on the heated seats to your spec (even if you’re not going to use them) as they’re a really big selling point for the car should you ever decide to sell it later on, and they’re very expensive to retrofit. The retrofit kit (which includes the wiring harness and the new switches) cost $148 from Classic in Ohio and the heated front seats sell on the aftermarket from around $600 to $800 a set depending upon the deal you can find (and even more if you want leather! – Probably around $900 to $1,200). It cost me right about $800 to do the retrofit on our car (not including my time for the labor of course) and so that puts the total cost at about $500 over what it would have cost us to have purchased them from the factory. I think that they’re worth every penny though and I would have paid $800 for the heated seats if that’s what they originally cost from the factory (as we like them that much!).
Well done Mike! I would certainly agree that the heated seats are a bargain at their current pricing. Actually the whole cold weather package is really quite a deal if you were to considering retrofitting costs.
<p>Great write up!</p>
<p>Even though I live in Houston, TX I ordered the cold weather package in my MINI and havent regretted it. I even use them on hot summer days with the AC blowing hard just cause it feels great on my lower back after sitting at my desk all day.</p>
<p>-m </p>
<p>Glad to hear there worth it. I too live in Houston, TX and I ordered the cold weather package as well. Can’t wait to try them out, according to the website mine is still Scheduled for Production, has been for about a week so it should be making its way across the pond soon!</p>
<p>From looking at the retrofit instructions it doesnt say anything about it, but this article says that i need to buy whole new seats in addition to the retrofit kit. Is that correct?</p>
<p>I agree. The Cold Weather package has to be the best bargain they have. I bought my car out of inventory, so I didn’t get to spec it. I wish my car had the Cold Weather package or at least the heated seats.</p>
<p>Out of a sick sense of curiosity, I have to ask: has anyone priced a pair heated covers for Lapis Blue gravity leather sport seats?</p>
<p>Is there a market for used, non-heated leather covers?</p>
<p>Darn, this isn’t a cheap retrofit!</p>
<p>I’m in Atlanta and I also ordered the Cold Weather package. I’ve used the ones in my newly acquired ’99 Subaru alot this winter (yes, we do have a winter here).</p>
<p>-Erik</p>
<p>Hi All,</p>
<p>Wow! I’m a star now. [GRIN]</p>
<p>I’m glad to hear that you’ve enjoyed the small write-up I did and that (for the most part) people agree with me about the heated seats being a good factory option that’s worth the price.</p>
<p>Andrew,</p>
<p>Yes, that’s correct. If your MINI didn’t come from the factory with heated seats, then you either need to buy a set of replacement seats with the heaters already in them, or you have to recover your existing seats with new covers that contain the heating elements integrated into them. To replace the covers, you need a total of four (two seat bottom covers and two seat back covers) and they are quite expensive at around $275 each for the leatherette (and even more for the leather ones).</p>
<p>For me, the cheapest way to do the retrofit was to find a set of heated MINI sport seats aftermarket and then just use those instead. Since a lot of folks like to replace their existing seats with aftermarket racing seats (such as the Sparcos, Recaros, etc.), you can generally find a set of MINI seats floating around on the aftermarket (on eBay, etc.). You could also check with local wrecking yards and see if you can find a set of heated seats out of a totaled MINI (although those are probably rare). The heated seats retrofit kit itself simply consists of the new wiring harness and the switch to control the heated seats (which replaces your existing mirror adjustment switch in the center consol with a new one that has the seat heater switches on it).</p>
<p>KevinR,</p>
<p>I’m not sure, but I believe that I read somewhere that a fellow MINI owner had his Lapis Blue leather seats recovered (due to damage) and it was around $600 for the covers (and I think that was each!). Also, Ian Cull (i.e. GBMINI) states on his web site that he looked into recovering/replacing his current Lapis Blue heated sport seats with the new red/black cloth/leather ones and he gave up once the price got up to 3K+. Instead, he has ordered a whole new car… GBMINI#3</p>
<p>Thus, it’s expensive to do the retrofit no doubt, but if you’re lucky enough to fall into a pair of aftermarket heated MINI seats like I did, then it’s definitely worth the money in my opinion.</p>
<p>Why do my heated washer nozzles freeze sometimes. Seats and mirrors always work well.</p>
<p>Not ordering the heated seats is my only regret with my MINI (next time I will have them)..</p>
<p>Steve,</p>
<p>I quite agree… My wife’s MINI was speced out by someone else. They ended up canceling out of the order (after it was too late for us to make any changes) and the dealer offered it to us at a great price (too good to pass up – plus less than half of the wait time too). The car had everything we wanted on it except for the rear fog light and the heated seats. We thought that we could live without the heated seats, but it’s my wife’s number one feature and so I set out to find a way to retrofit them (I’ve also now retrofitted the rear fog light as well). The car is now exactly as we would have ordered it from the factory and we are happy.</p>
<p>My wife’s one option she wanted was heated seats (bad back). I reordered my car, and got an ’05, and got the cold package. Now i use it just as much, almost.</p>
<p>allan</p>
<p>I agree the heated seats are great. However, I do think the wattage could be turned down just a bit. The high setting, at least on my ’05s cloth seats, is a wee bit too much for me. I almost always turn the seats from high to low after a few seconds. I don’t know what current the seats draw, but both seats on high is really pulling some amps. Guess I could put a wirewound resistor inline as a workaround…</p>
<p>I have leather without the heater here in Houston and I do regret not ordering the heated seats. From the instructions it looks like I would have to get new seat covers inorder to retrofit. Is this true? Why what’s the difference in covers? </p>
<p>Hi All,</p>
<p>Here are a few tips for anyone who wants to complete the heated seats retrofit (and following along with the official retrofit PDF):</p>
<p>HOW TO REMOVE & REPLACE THE SEATS WITHOUT GETTING AN AIRBAG WARNING LIGHT</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Turn off the car and leave the key in the ignition (in the off position).</p></li>
<li><p>Disconnect the negative terminal of the battery and isolate it with a rag, etc. so that it doesn’t reconnect itself on accident.</p></li>
<li><p>Remove the seats, disconnect the airbag/seatbelt connectors, etc. NOTE: DO NOT TURN BACK ON THE IGNITION AT ANY TIME WHILE THE SEATS ARE OUT AND THE AIRBAG/SEATBELT CONNECTORS ARE DISCONNECTED!</p></li>
<li><p>Once you have the seats bolted back into the car and the airbag/seatbelt connectors reconnected, BE SURE THAT THE KEY IS IN THE IGNITION (but not turned on), and then reconnect the negative terminal of the battery.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Voila! No airbag light :-)</p>
<p>REMOVING THE OLD SEATS</p>
<p>Checkout this great seat removal how-to done by Randy Webb at Web Motorsports:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.webbmotorsports.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9&sid=fde2dad2d3dd33263fd6e6a06e8a76ed" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.webbmotorsports.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9&sid=fde2dad2d3dd33263fd6e6a06e8a76ed</a></p>
<p>Follow steps 1 through 6 in order to remove both of your old seats. It’s very easy as there are only four bolts that hold them in. Your old non-heated MINI seats will have the three connectors as shown in the photos (the yellow one is for the airbags and the blue and black ones are for the seatbelt). Your new heated seats will have four connectors. The existing three (yellow, black, and blue) plus a new larger black one (with three prongs) for hooking up the heated seats.</p>
<p>NOTE: Since most of the replacement MINI seats picked up on the aftermarket will have the seatbelt anchors (and their associated wiring harness) removed, you will need to take them off of your existing MINI seats and place them onto your new heated MINI seats. Look at steps 11 through 13 in the how-to article for the details (it’s very easy to do).</p>
<p>WHERE THE HECK IS THE X33 CONNECTOR?</p>
<p>The first step in the PDF tells you to disconnect the X33 connector and hook in the A9 through A11 wires from the new heated seats wiring harness. Well, the X33 connector is located at the back of the ignition switch right behind the steering column trim. It’s quite large and very easy to find once you have the steering column trim removed. For help with removing the steering column trim, take a look at the first three steps/pictures in the “The Wiper Stalk” section of the following MINI Alarm Install how-to (I think that the credit on this one goes to S.F. Connell):</p>
<p><a href="http://home.comcast.net/~sfconnell/mods/alarm/home.htm" rel="nofollow ugc">http://home.comcast.net/~sfconnell/mods/alarm/home.htm</a></p>
<p>HOW TO REMOVE THE MIRROR ADJUSTMENT SWITCH AND CENTER CONSOL</p>
<p>Sean Bartnik has done an outstanding how-to on removing/replacing the toggle panel switch. The how-to contains explicit instructions on how to remove the mirror adjustment switch (which will be replaced by the new one containing the heated seat switches that’s included as part of the heated seats retrofit kit you purchased) and the center consol as well as some very detailed photos. Here’s the link to Sean’s how-to:</p>
<p><a href="http://mini.uglydoris.com/archives/000066.html" rel="nofollow ugc">http://mini.uglydoris.com/archives/000066.html</a></p>
<p>NOTE: If you’re considering doing the rear fog lamp retrofit on your MINI, now’s a great time to install the new toggle panel (as per the how-to) as you’ll have the whole thing apart anyway. </p>
<p>The rest of the PDF is pretty much straight forward and I can only offer the following additional tips for you:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The fuse box panel is very easy to remove. There are only two (actually there are three, but the top left hand one doesn’t need to be removed) bolts that hold it on. Once you unbolt it, connector X10206 is the ONLY green colored connector there and all of the pins are numbered so you can easily find the proper corrector slot (i.e. pin 8).</p></li>
<li><p>The X1108 earth post (where you connect wire A4) is the front most earth post on the driver’s side of the car. Simply undo the bolt, slip on the new terminal and then redo the bolt.</p></li>
<li><p>The X1019 connector was full on my car and so I had to use the provided joint connector as stated in the PDF. The X1019 connector is the front most connector running down the left-hand side of the car and I believe that it has a bunch of small gray/red wires connected to it. It was the only connector of its type that had a free/open slot on my car (just perfect for adding in the joint connector that is provided with the heated seats retrofit kit).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>That’s pretty much it. The hardest part of the entire installation is running the wiring harness under the carpet and into the center consol area. However, anyone with basic knowledge of wiring and their car’s interior should be able to accomplish the retrofit without a problem.</p>
<p>I hope this helps some…</p>
<p>Kelly,</p>
<p>[From the instructions it looks like I would have to get new seat covers in order to retrofit. Is this true? Why what’s the difference in covers?]</p>
<p>Yes, that’s true. If you don’t already have heated seats in your car, then your existing seat covers will not contain the heating elements required to make the heated seats function. Apparently, the heating elements are integrated into the seat covers and so you have to install new seat covers (with the integrated heating elements) in order to make the heated seats work.</p>
<p>However, replacing the seat covers is prohibitively expensive for most people, and so the best way to do it is to locate a set of used MINI seats that already contain the heaters on the aftermarket (on eBay, via a junk yard, etc.). That way you don’t have to deal with the expense involved in replacing the covers and it makes the retrofit relatively easy (as all of the hard work is already done for you).</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I think having heated seats increases the resale value in cold climates, but here in LA with just about any dealer of any make or model you have to special-order if you want heated seats. Hardly anyone seems to care about heated seats here.</p></li>
<li><p>I think the heated seats on the VWs are a better value. Yo u get much finer control of heat output, and for a lot less ($150). Though I love heated seats, I never felt like the MINI seats were a good value or up to the standard of functionality I was used to.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>petsound,</p>
<p>I’m afraid that I have to disagree with your first comment… I live in Southern California and I find the heated seats a MUST have on my cars (mainly because my wife is always cold and I’m always hot and so having the heated seats allows her to be warm without me having to turn on the heat). I certainly would have paid two or three times the price to get the heated seats from the factory, and I know that when all of my friends and family see the car one of the first things they ask is if it has heated seats or not (somehow heated seats seem to go hand-in-hand with a high quality interior for most folks – probably because they generally only exist with leather interiors). Thus, I think that a lot of Kalifornians are coming around to the heated seats, and as such, they are most definitely a great selling point for used vehicles.</p>
<p>As for your second comment… I agree that the VW seat heaters are much more controllable. Our VW Jetta had a rotating dial that allowed you to select the heat level (from 1 to 5 or maybe it was 1 to 10 I can’t remember). However, what I was disappointed with on the VW’s is that they don’t let you have heated seats without their leather packages. I’m not a big fan of leather and I really like the fact that MINI allows you to have the heated seats with the cloth and leatherette interior as well as the leather.</p>
<p>Mike,</p>
<p>I’m not saying that there aren’t people on SoCal who crave heated seats — my wife, me, and several friends all love them. However I don’t believe it’s the norm, or at least the car dealer perception is that it is not desired. When my wife was shopping for an Audi A4 last year, she could not find a single dealer in SoCal who had A4s in stock with heated seats. And this was during January!</p>
<p>As for your complaint about VW heating package only coming with leather, I just went to the VW site and spec’d out a Jetta GLS with cloth seats and chose the optional Cold Weather package. It raised no red flags. Not that I would recommend a Jetta or a VW in general given my maintenance track record with them…and did you see what they’ve done to the 2006 Jetta? It looks like a Honda Accord.</p>
<p>petsound,</p>
<p>Fair enough… :-)</p>
<p>And yes, I remember when I went looking for MINIs, our local dealer had a bunch on the lot (more than twenty five I’d imagine) and I think that only one of the convertibles had the heated seats. Thus, you’re probably right about the dealers not specing out there “on the lot” cars with the heated seats option. It’s too bad really as I think that most folks would find that they like them if they only had them to use (and they’re a bargain at the price too – maybe not as good as VW’s though [grin]).</p>
<p>As for the VW heated seats, my only experience with the heated seats came from our custom ordered 2000 Jetta GLX. Thus, I guess that it is possible that VW has changed things over the years and the heaters are now available with cloth (when we ordered our car, the seat heaters were included in the leather package and you couldn’t order them any other way). BTW, I’ve yet to see the new Jetta (nor the new Golf for that matter) and so I’ll go take a look at their web site. Thanks for the info.</p>
<p>Funny, as someone who actually lives in a cold climate, I wasn’t that all impressed with the heated seats on the loaner I had for a few days during sub zero temps. The high setting was enough to make me sweat after a while, and the low setting was barely noticable. Sure they’re nice, but for multiple hundreds of dollars? I can deal with my back being cooler than the rest of me, because when it’s that cold out, just because your back is warm, didn’t me the rest of me felt warm.</p>
<p>Rocketboy,</p>
<p>That’s why the MINI is such a great car! It has so many options and it can be configured in so many ways that there is quite literally something for everyone (heck, you can even get an MCS with an automatic now). :-)</p>
<p>Personally, I’m a gadget guy and so I really like having fully loaded cars with all of the fixings (heated seats included). [GRIN]</p>
<p>Thanks for your comments as it’s good to hear views from both sides of the fence (i.e. both the pros and the cons).</p>
<p>All,</p>
<p>I just noticed the following heated seats retrofit kit from Moss MINI:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.mossmini.com/Shop/ViewProducts.aspx?PlateIndexID=46129" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.mossmini.com/Shop/ViewProducts.aspx?PlateIndexID=46129</a></p>
<p>It’s not an OEM retrofit kit, but it might allow someone who is interested in heated seats get them at a much more reasonable price. The Moss MINI kit is only $130 (per seat) and it includes the heating elements with the kit (both the seat bottom and the seat back). You’d still have the cost associated with having the heating elements installed into your existing seats (i.e. your seat covers would still have to be removed and replaced in order to install the heating elements), but it would be a lot less expensive than buying all new seat covers for sure (especially if you have the much more expensive leather seats).</p>
<p>While I have no experience with this kit, it looks like the on/off switch could easily be mounted in the same location as the OEM heated seat switches giving you a really nice “factory” look to the installation. Thus, it might be worth checking out.</p>
<p>I am looking for a low cost seat heater solution for my mini, and found this website. <a href="http://www.heaterseats.com" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.heaterseats.com</a>, they have a pair of mini seat heaters for sale that I think will be great for our minis! Anyone have experience with this company? They are located in washington.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.heaterseats.com" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.heaterseats.com</a> are EXCELLENT! The kit is fairly easy to install and the parts are OEM quality. They offer good tech support and if you are at all electrically inclined, you can wire it to the factory switch purchased at your dealer. They are much cheaper than anyone else. Parts are German made – high quality – used in Audis and the German build VW’s (not the Jettas)</p>
<p>Alfred,</p>
<p>One thing to make sure that you’re clear on (if you’re not already) is that the “Mini Seat Heater Kit” offered by that heaterseats.com place is NOT specifically made for the MINI Cooper (it’s just a generic/universal kit). The word “Mini” in their kit’s title simply refers to the kit being smaller than their normal/other kits is all. As for how good/bad they are, I cannot say as I’ve never seen/used them before. However, if their claim is indeed true and their product is used in the VW/Audi cars as OEM parts, then I’d say that they probably are good ones.</p>
<p>Ken,</p>
<p>I don’t think that these kits could be wired to the OEM MINI heated seats switch. Have you ever seen the factory MINI heated seats switch? If not, then you can see a picture of it here:</p>
<p><a rel="nofollow" href="http://mini.uglydoris.com/images/toggle_0409.jpg">http://mini.uglydoris.com/images/toggle_0409.jpg</a></p>
<p>As you can see from the photo, the OEM MINI heated seats switch is quite complicated with its own electronics built right into the switch and with special plugs being used to hook up the wiring harness. Thus, I think that it would be waaay too complicated for the average person to mess around with. Besides that, the cheapest way to purchase the OEM MINI heated seats switch would be with the OEM MINI Heated Seats Retrofit Kit (which includes the switch and the wiring harness), and that would up the price of the kit by at least $150 (i.e. the cost of the OEM MINI Heated Seats Retrofit Kit). However, the heaterseats.com kits should include their own switch (or at least I hope they do) which look a lot like the one in the Moss MINI kit, and so you could probably mount their switches in the same location (i.e. right next to the mirror adjustment switch) as the OEM MINI heated seats switch giving it a really nice “factory” look.</p>
<p>Lastly, I can’t get a good idea of what is included in the heaterseats.com kits, but I have to assume that they include switches (if they don’t, then they sell the switch kits separately for an extra $15-$25 each). If that’s the case, then their kits are indeed cheaper than the Moss MINI ones. I’d just be sure that all of the parts required to fully hook them up are included in the kit before committing to buying one (e.g. two heating elements, the wiring harness, fuse, switch, control module, etc.).</p>
<p>All,</p>
<p>Here’s another small tidbit for those who are interested in installing the OEM MINI Heated Seats Retrofit Kit (like I did). Mikey The Mini has posted the following thread on MINI2.com that includes pictures that show you what’s involved in removing the driver’s side door sill trim:</p>
<p><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.mini2.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1391959&postcount=2">http://www.mini2.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1391959&postcount=2</a></p>
<p>This trim has to be removed in order to run the heated seats wiring harness from the steering column/fuse box down to the seats themselves.</p>
<p>I hope this helps some…</p>
<p>All,</p>
<p>Okay, I’ve spent a bit more time looking at the heaterseats.com web site and it does indeed appear that their kits are fully complete (i.e. they include everything you need to properly hook up the heated seats). You can see a list of what’s included in their kits here:</p>
<p><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.heaterseats.com/products.html">http://www.heaterseats.com/products.html</a></p>
<p>Their kits sound like a really good deal for the money (and I believe that the cost of shipping is included in the price as well).</p>
<p>Here’s a picture of the switch that is included with the kit (I believe):</p>
<p><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.heaterseats.com/images/switch2.gif">http://www.heaterseats.com/images/switch2.gif</a></p>
<p>It looks nice, but I’m confused as to if it includes a two step heating function (i.e. hi/lo) like the OEM MINI kit and the Moss MINI kit do. Number 8 on their <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.heaterseats.com/faq.html">FAQ</a> states that their kits do include this feature, but then number 17 goes on to say (I believe) that the switch with the LED light is only hi/off switch so I’m not really sure which switch you’ll get with the kit???</p>
<p>Lastly. please note that their “Mini Seat Heater Kit” is for use with motorcycles, etc. Thus, that’s probably NOT the one you want to buy for your MINI Cooper.</p>
<p>BTW, I wouldn’t mind getting a couple of these kits and making my back seats heated too. It’s just hard to justify since I don’t have passengers in the back of my MINI all that often. :-)</p>
<p>Looking for the seat heater switches that plug into the center console and light up. This is for a 1999 Subaru Outback.</p>
<p>Thanks,
Mike </p>
<p>So, as I read all of the comments it seems that add -on seat heaters are available either through MossMINI.com or <a href="http://www.heaterseats.com" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.heaterseats.com</a> and a wiring harness looks like it is directly available from the MINI dealership. So, here is my question to anyone who has had experience with ether supplier: is the project fairly easy or should I be trying to get the heater element installed by a car upholstery store and is one supplier’s heater kit significantly better than the other’s???? My only other options would be to try to buy heated seats on the web or to wait and order my next MINI with them installed at the factory (this could be years away). Any help or advice is appreciated.</p>
<p>I just purchased two seat heaters from Heaterseats.com and installed them on my Mini, they are a great addition to have this winter! After installation, the only thing you will see is their lighted switch. The install was a bit hard because I never taken out seats before, but I called their tech support and they gave me alot of useful tips. The seat heaters came with a 14 page manual to assist you on this modification.</p>
Hi Mike, I’m having trouble locating the X1019 connector, can you tell me where it is in relation to the fusebox, is it forward or behind, next to the door opening, and how high up? I can’t find anything with this number on. Also I don’t have the joint connector in my kit and my dealer said its not included, even though it mentions it in the write-up. Thanks in advance, Al.
I have installed 2003 mini heated seats into my 1974 mini and I was wondering if the heaters can work in my car and if so would you have any suggestions for hooking up the wiring? I got the switches and portions of the wiring harness with the seats.
Thanks,
Brett
<p>PLEASE help me. One of the seat heater buttons on my Mini was removed by accident and I lost it! I have spent months searching for a replacement button online! The dealer says I need to order a full OEM kit and re-install the whole panel, except I just want the button! everything works fine, just the button is missing! If anybody has a salvage part or anything that would really help me out.</p>
<p>Thanks again for your help</p>