Adding Rear Heated Seats to an '06 - Worth the Trouble?

[rboyer1]

Just bought a beautiful '06 from a L-M dealer in Miami, FL. Car has the Elite package and every available option except rear heated seats (quite understandable for a Miami car).

Living in Michigan and having two young boys, I would like to add the rear heated seat option to the car. Is it worth the trouble to find the harnesses, switches, escutcheon plates, module and seat elements to put the option on the car? This doesn't seem to be a very popular option, judging by how few LS I've seen with the option. Did they work well? Is this more trouble than its worth?

[speedy9]

It’s sounds like way to much work to me. I would probably just turn up the heat, but then again I live in southern California perhaps I don’t fully appreciate the feeling of a warm seat.

[rboyer1]

The work aspect doesn't scare me; however I am concerned about compatability. If I find a donor car that's an '05 or earlier, will I need that EVTM along with an '06 EVTM (the old name for the factory wiring diagram manual) to do the job? Am I stuck looking for a wrecked '06? This is where my concern is... If I lived in SoCal or Miami, believe me, this wouldn't be on the table....

[speedy9]

It sounds like you are on the right track. Besides searching for a donor car, you may also consider an aftermarket seat heater kit. I am sure the donor car route will yield better results but at least you would not have to wait and search for a suitable donor. Just a thought.

[rboyer1]

I had a '95 Taurus SHO (great car) and wanted heated seats. I contacted a company that made kits, and bought a pair. Did a first-class installation. Made a nice fused and soldered harness, installed the switches in the console below the front edge of the console lid. The switches were not noticeable at all unless you craned your head forward and down. But, if you rested your arm in a natural position on the console arm rest and let your hand fall, your hand came to rest about 1/4" from the switches. Perfect. I was proud of that 'natural' switch location. (Too bad Ford never put heated seats in that car, I found the perfect place to put the switches.) Have a friend that has a trim shop and he did the seat element installation.
After everything, they worked ok, but not great. Took a long time to heat up and became too hot on the high setting. The low setting was not much lower than the high setting. (Could have used a 20%-30% larger resistors in the switches, was surprised the module didn't handle that task through another circuit.)
After about two years of daily use in Michigan winters, the driver's seat module failed. A few months later, the passenger seat module failed. After contacting the company, they said they didn't sell service parts, and even if they did, buying another new kit would not be much more expensive. Great customer service.
Based on my experience, I'm gun-shy of aftermarket heated seat kits. If I could find good, durable kits, I may reconsider and do another installation. However, this being a like-new Lincoln LS, you can bet I'd do it right and get the factory switches and escutcheons and wire those into the harness.