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Dorman Seat heaters are IN!

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Accessories and Modifications' started by Bluedogz, Sep 13, 2014.

  1. Bluedogz

    Bluedogz Junior Member

    Joined:
    Aug 28, 2014
    25
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    Location:
    Baltimore, MD
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    Kit arrived last week... and even doing this one-handed (as I don't have a right arm) I have to give this a 4 out of 10 difficulty.

    Removing the seats was surprisingly easy. The right tool for the job is either a BIG 14mm wrench or an impact driver- I used a cordless impact driver and each seat took less than 5 minutes to remove.

    There are hog rings holding the fabric on the seat under the seam under the butt and at the base of the seat back. Replacing these with zip ties makes life WAY easier. Also, there's a nice neat hole in the seat pan already, presumably for routing OEM heater wiring- this makes running the wiring under the seat a snap. I ran the pigtails up next to the airbag/seatbelt connector and zip-tied them there with maybe 10" of slack to allow seat movement.

    On the passenger side, I cheated a bit, and ran the wiring under the center console up to the accessory panel underneath the shifter, and scotch-locked the heater's wiring to the accessory plug there. This may turn out to be a problem if I try to plug in a refrigerator or something, but it saved me a lot of spelunking behind the dashboard.

    On the driver's side, it was easiest to run wiring under the door sill up to the fuse panel, and plug the provided slave plug right into the existing circuit where heaters would have gone anyway.

    The provided switches with the kit BARELY fit into the existing plug blanks after drilling a 3/4" hole. I tried using a 3/4" spade bit after failing to find my step bit. and am not happy with the results- they look sloppy. This is another project for another day, though. Those blanks are readily available, though, so no big deal. This is only a concern for those purists who want the OEM look.

    Biggest message I'd give: GATHER THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE JOB. This isn't an especially difficult install, but if I had tried to jury-rig it with some dime-store socket set I'd have ended up frustrated.