Heated seats and-or leather seats

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Introduction

If your vehicle already has heated leather seats from the factory, you don't need to read this article. Enjoy life.

You should read this article if:

1. You have non-heated cloth seats, and you want non-heated leather seats
2. You have non-heated cloth seats, and you want heated cloth seats.
3. You have non-heated cloth seats, and you want heated leather seats.
4. You have heated cloth seats, and you want non-heated leather seats.
5. You have heated cloth seats, and you want heated leather seats.
6. You have non-heated leather seats, and you want heated leather seats.
7. You have non-heated leather seats, and you want heated cloth seats.
8. You have non-heated leather seats, and you want non-heated cloth seats.
9. You don't know what you have, and you don't know what you want, and you don't know what you're reading.

In the last case, you shouldn't really read this article. You should instead urgently ask your mechanic to perform a full medical exam on you.

Generally, the best edition is heated leather.

The are three solutions for obtaining the desired seats (from cheapest to most expensive):

1. Swap your seats (and some wiring in case of heated editions) with somebody else who needs cash or hates leather.
2. Buy the required parts from a dead Jimny in a local vehicle junkyard.
3. Buy the new seats (and some wiring in case of heated editions) from your Suzuki dealer.

Common remarks

• There are several revisions of Jimny seats which roughly follow the most significant Jimny revisions (1998-2001, 2001-2005, 2006-2012 and 2012-on). There are also many special editions of seats.
• Seat mounts should be universal for all those revisions and editions of seats, but that has not been confirmed.
• The best combination is heated leather seats (front) and leather seats (back).

Remarks on leather seats

• All four seat positions exist in leather editions.
  • There have been several leather editions, and it appears that the oldest one appeared around 2001.
• Most of the leather editions use combination of true natural and synthetic leather.
  • It's usually natural leather in the seat sections which contact the body, and synthetic leather on the sides of the seats and on the rear of the seats.
• Being leather does not imply that they are heated as well.
  • See more in the chapter about heated seats.
• Most of the "leather" seat editions are actually "half-leather", where the surfaces which contact your lower back and your butt are still cloth (but a different and finer cloth than the one used in cloth seats), and only the sections near the edges (and the backs of the front seats) are leather.
  • Half-leather construction is actually good, because all leather materials are cold as ice during the winter, and hot & sweaty as a nylon during the summer.
    • This way you get best of both worlds - your butt and most of your back are spared of the inconveniences, while your eyes enjoy the seats and they clean simply.
• Swapping cloth for leather seats or vice versa is a dead simple bolt-on job.
• Don't forget to regularly maintain leather seats!
  • Leather is a precious material and it needs regular cleaning and then treating with some specialty leather care "milk"/grease/spray.
    • Otherwise, it will crack and even wear off, and it is quite expensive to repair such damages.
  • If maintained properly and regularly, leather can easily preserve its pristine condition for more than 10-15 years.

Remarks on heated seats

• Heated seats exist both in cloth and leather editions.
  • Only some front seats exist with seat heating.
  • No rear seats have seat heating.
• It appears that heated seats became available as a factory option from cca 2001.
• Factory wiring for seat heating is such that a single switch controls both left and right front seat heating simultaneously, meaning that both front seats heat at once.
  • If you want individual control for each front seat, you have to do your own custom wiring.
• Each heated seat gets its power from a dedicated cable which comes out from the floor carpet under the seat.

Installing heated seats

You need to obtain the following:

1. Heated seats themselves;
2. Wiring (preferably original cables with connectors etc.); [not yet investigated]
3. Possibly some more electrics like a relay, a fuse etc.); [not yet investigated]
4. A rectangular switch for the driver's console (for older Jimnys with 1st gen console up to cca 2005);
5. A round switch for the driver's console (for newer Jimnys with 2nd gen console from cca 2005);

Notes about older rectangular switch

• In older Jimnys with 1st gen dashboard (until cca 2005), the seat heating switch is located in a three-switch-cluster which also contains switches for rear and front fog lights.
  • The cluster is located left to the steering wheel (for LHD vehicles) or right to the steering wheel (for RHD vehicles).
• The switch is a "permanent press-in" type - after you press it, it stays pressed in until pressed again.
• The switch also contains a small light indicator which is lit when the switch is pressed in.
• The switch controls heating for both seats simultaneously.
• If this switch is not obtainable, you could alternatively obtain a rectangular switch for rear window heater or (even better) a rectangular switch for front fog lights, and install it in the same switch cluster where the rear fog light switch is.

Notes about newer round switch

• In newer Jimnys with 2nd gen dashboard (since cca 2005), the seat heating switch is located just left to the cluster of "2WD/4WD/4WD-L" electric transfer box buttons (for LHD vehicles) or right to that cluster (for RHD vehicles).
• The switch is a "permanent press-in" type - after you press it, it stays pressed in until pressed again.
• The switch also contains a small light indicator which is lit when the switch is pressed in.
• The switch controls heating for both seats simultaneously.
• If this switch is not obtainable, you could alternatively obtain a round switch for the rear window heater (from 2nd generation console) and install it instead.
  • It's essentially the same switch, but with different markings on it.

Notes about wiring

• Regarding the wiring, refer to a corresponding wiring diagram manual for your vehicle revision (and for donor's vehicle revision if needed).
• You can determine the exact name of the corresponding document in a wiki article "Manuals and Owners Guides".
• Search for "seat heater" within the wiring manual.

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Page last edited on 7/09/2018 by user Bosanek