# Heated seats turning off..



## Bergy67 (Dec 15, 2016)

2011 Cruze 2lt. Passenger side seat will stay on and work fine, but the drivers side will turn off after approximately a minute. Any idea why it does this and how to fix it?


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## carbon02 (Feb 25, 2011)

I spent a lot of time researching GM's factory heated seats when I wanted to install heated seats in my cloth 1LT. You can see my how-to link in my signature.

GM has a lot of safety features in their heated seat circuits. There's even a heated seat control module. I think that's under the drivers seat.

First off I'd check the fuse box for blown fuses. I think both seats run off the same circuit, so chances are it's not a fuse. Over time the resistance of the heated seat mats increase. If they increase too far, the heated seats go into standby protection. 

I'm guessing the drivers side has had more sitting in it, and there's a short in either the bottom but seat cushion or the seat back. Do both the butt and the back go cold, or can you determine which one? 

You may have to find the wiring connectors for the pads, unzip the leather seat back, zippers are at the seams in the back bottom. Sliding the seat forward and access from the back. (See my pictures in my thread.) 

Disconnect the heat pad on the butt. Either check resistance with a multimeter, or now try the heated seats with the butt disconnected. Somehow you need to determine which heating element you are going to replace. They are about $60 each, and while both will be accessible, if your trying to save money troubleshoot the resistance of the heated pad circuit, and see if the seat will fire up, with the bad pad unplugged. 

Good Luck-


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## pontiacgt (Jan 12, 2011)

Its definitely not a fuse. check the seat back first since its easier to get to the element and look. If you see a black mark on the pad anywhere its more than likely that one. Mine was the back that went bad. Heard others had problems but don't know if it was seat or the back.


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## Jewel Red 5 (Feb 5, 2011)

Its the pad I just replaced mine got a OEM kit on eBay cheaper then dealer. Works like new did it 6 weeks ago. Light and click went on for heat then off after 30 sec or so.


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## joshuab (Apr 16, 2014)

Bergy67 said:


> 2011 Cruze 2lt. Passenger side seat will stay on and work fine, but the drivers side will turn off after approximately a minute. Any idea why it does this and how to fix it?


Mine did this about a few months when purchased it, the passenger side worked well, the driver side I would turn on & after about a min the lights would turn off. When I took it in & had it checked it seems it was the heating element went bad & had to replaced. So I would suspect it being a heating element in the seat bad, I'd take it to dealer & have it checked/fixed. Let us know the turn out.


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## Silver RS (Apr 8, 2011)

I bought two Cruze 2LT and both of the driver side seat heaters went bad after 36,000 miles. The problem was the heating element on both of them. GM has refused to do anything for us. One of our cars is in the dealership now for repair at a cost of 120.00 for each element and a total cost parts and labor of 750.00. We bought an extended warranty when new and was told it was for seven years bumper to bumper for $1,700. Dealership says the warranty does not cover the heated seats. Why would anyone buy one of these cars again?


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

Silver RS said:


> We bought an extended warranty when new and was told it was for seven years bumper to bumper for $1,700. Dealership says the warranty does not cover the heated seats.


Time to dig out the paperwork on that extended warranty. You also need to understand how it works as far as payment goes. It's possible that they reimburse you rather than pay the shop directly.

You didn't say who the warranty is with. A lot of dealers will sell third-party warranties. So that extended warranty may not be with GM.


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## carbon02 (Feb 25, 2011)

$600 labor for replacement of a heating element. Yes there is a fair amount of work, but it shouldn't be more than 2 hours in a non GM shop. Sounds like they don't know how to do it, and really don't want to learn, unless you pay bigtime. 

I would try an aftermarket auto accessories shop. Even if you had to order GM factory parts and have them do the labor. Most around me will do after market heated seats for around $ 300- $400.

Heck two cars at $750 per car? I'd almost do it for a trip to Portland, you live in a very cool city! A link on how to do this is in my heated seats thread below. 

There's no special tools required except for a torx socket to remove the seats. Jump in and tackle it. I'm willing to assist with questions. 

The job is not hard. Tedious for the first seat maybe, worth saving $1200 in labor, definately. And I'm not a mechanic with a bunch of tools! 

Good Luck-


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## Eddy Cruze (Jan 10, 2014)

I wonder if my GMPP would cover this for 84 months or 7 years, that is if my seats had this heat feature. $1120 provides a lot of protection


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

"GMPP by Ally" isn't really third-party. Unfortunately, I don't think it's available for sale anymore. GM and Ally parted ways. Hopefully the Dealer and Ally still work together so I don't have to get into the middle of it.


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## Eddy Cruze (Jan 10, 2014)

ChevyGuy said:


> "GMPP by Ally" isn't really third-party. Unfortunately, I don't think it's available for sale anymore. GM and Ally parted ways. Hopefully the Dealer and Ally still work together so I don't have to get into the middle of it.


This policy is still issued by MIC and sold everywhere under various names. GM has not financially backed these plans since 2002










[FONT=&quot]Finance was the core business. Insurance came later. And vehicle service contracts were an even more recent addition to the product line. *The Motors Insurance Corp*. was formed in 1939, as the in-house underwriter of GMAC's insurance products. In 1973, Motors Insurance Corp. began selling what were then called mechanical breakdown protection plans -- what would nowadays be called vehicle service contracts.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The service contracts were not insurance products. However, they became part of GMAC's insurance business unit. The General Motors Protection Plans (in the U.S.) and the Car Care Plans (in other countries) were sold to consumers by GM-franchised dealers, through their dealerships' finance and insurance departments.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Up until 2002, General Motors itself was the obliger. GM, in turn, would insure its business risk through a contractual liability policy purchased from GMAC Insurance. But then the structure of the business changed, so that it was GMAC selling the service contract to the customer, and it was GMAC that became the obligor.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]According to GMAC's financial statements, this change was designed to concentrate all business related to service contracts with GMAC Insurance (where the activities were managed), rather than splitting the business between GM and GMAC Insurance. At the time, since GMAC was wholly-owned by GM, this change was little more than accounting trivia.[/FONT]
GMAC Service Contracts, 17 June 2010


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