I always thought that heated seats were for sissies, or maybe for the Excursion- Suburban crowd that drove from L.A. to Mammoth Ski Area once a year.
Then one day I'm on the phone with Robbie Pierce of Mastercraft Race Products (www.mastercraftseats.com, 800/565-4042), and somehow the subject of seat heaters came up. He said that they were a popular option on his suspension seats. Hmmm, maybe not a bad idea. My wife just laughed at the idea when I later brought the subject up. Figured I had really gone soft. I'll confess, I did put a heater in my Jeep, but, without the top on, the heat just seemed to, well, disappear into thin air.
As the weather turned colder, the more I thought about having heated seats, and soon I was back on the phone to Mastercraft. Seems Robbie had some seat heaters that are easily installed, not just in Mastercraft seats but in just about any seat your butt desired. Installation ranges from easy to maybe difficult, depending on the seat design.
On the Mastercraft seats, the job was easy. There are two separate heating elements for each seat with a high and low switch. One element goes in the back area, the other in the seat bottom. All that was necessary was to untie and slide off the cover, cut the heating pads to size with scissors, pull off the adhesive backing and stick them in place. With the covers reinstalled, the wires were ran out the seatbelt slots and connected to the wiring harness.
Oh, go ahead and call me a sissy all you want, but don't take away my heated seats. They are so, so nice on those days where it's almost the perfect weather to be running without a top and doors on, but just a bit on the chilly side. For snow trips-well, what can I say? After digging out and pushing vehicles, what could be nicer for the ride back home than a warm back and bottom? Yeah, I'm a sissy-and my wife wonders why we waited so long to have them.
