Heated Power Seat Installation

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bdleonard
Posts: 268
Joined: Mon Apr 22, 2013 4:39 am

While I've had my 2013 Kizashi SE AWD since new, one thing that I always disliked was the lack of a power driver's seat (which I believe came in all other SE or higher trims, including the 2013 SE FWD) After some looking around, most of the matching tan cloth replacements I could find in salvage yard searches were in rough shape, either due to poor care or an airbag deployment inside the vehicle.

After some looking I found a full black leather power heated seat set from a 2012 SLS in good condition. Given the mix of black and tan trim already in the interior, I decided that the black leather seats would not be too out of place in replacing the manual cloth seats. The swap was very straightforward, though I did not bother to attempt swap the rear seat locks. I've never used them, and given that the pass through behind the rear arm rest has no lock, I didn't see the point.

To start, prior to the install, I checked the fuse box(es) and the wiring to make sure that all of the necessary fuses and wires were already in the car. Given my previous research I believed this would be the case, but decided I would take a few minutes to double check using the fuse charts in the owner's manual, and the service manual wiring descriptions. A few minutes of poking around, and I verified all of the necessary electrical parts were already there.

The install of the front seats is very easy.

1) The front seats contain airbags, so before beginning disconnect the battery (or pull the A/B fuse) and wait a few minutes to be sure

2) There are 2 connections under each front seat that need to be unplugged. A small yellow connector for the air bag, and a larger white connector that carries power for the seats, seat heaters, seat belt sensor, and OCS mat (passenger only) The larger cable with the white connector is held the the seat bottom with a small press clip strap. Carefully remove this from the seat bottom and reinsert in the same spot on the new seat once installed.

3) Each front seat is held down using 4 bolts (one in each corner of the seat rails) these need an E10 (eTorx) socket to be removed properly. (You could try to remove them with a standard 8mm hex socket, but there is a high risk of stripping the bolt head. If you try this, and the bolt isn't coming out easily, stop, it WILL strip.)

4) Once you have removed the bolts, return the seat to roughly the center position over the rails. This will make it much easier to take the seat out without accidentally scraping anything with the seat rails.

5) Set the "new" seat in place. There is a pin on the bottom of each seat rail that drops in to a hole just a bit behind the front bolt to locate them. Plug the yellow and the white connectors in to the bottom of the new seat, and snap the press clip that retains the cable in to the hole on the bottom of the seat. Put the 4 bolts back in to the new seat rails, and torque to 17 ft lb ( 23Nm).

6) Reconnect the battery (or re-insert the A/B fuse)

7) At this point the power seat install is done. If you have added *heated* seats, you will need to replace the climate panel in the center console in order to be able to operate them. The climate panel is only held in place with clips, so if you open the cubby below the climate panel, you can get your hand behind it and carefully pop it straight out (try not to twist much or you could break the clips). Unplug the connector on the back of the climate panel, and install a replacement climate panel with the heated seat buttons (part number 39510-57LA0) . These panels are occasionally mis-listed, so I suggest something with a picture of the unit so you can see that the heated seat buttons exist. Just plug the connector in to the new panel, snap it in to place, and it is done.
Last edited by bdleonard on Sun Aug 09, 2020 2:51 pm, edited 2 times in total.
bdleonard
Posts: 268
Joined: Mon Apr 22, 2013 4:39 am

The rear seats have no electrical connections, but consist of several more pieces, so are slightly more involved. The process here is as follows:

1) Remove the seat bottom cushion. To do this, lift up on the front left and right corners of the rear seat to pop it out of the lower retention clips. Then, press the each of two safety retention hooks at the rear to the side to release and allow the seat bottom to slide forward

2) Remove the two side "wing" pieces (where the shoulder belts rest). These are held in place with a small bolt through the plastic bracket at the bottom. Once the bolt is removed, lift the bottom out, while pulling the wing down to slide the top clip out.

3) Unbolt the rear seat backs. There is a nut to remove in each side that was covered by the wing, once these are removed remove the two bolts near the center that hold the seat back bracket. (Note: There is NO NEED to unbolt any of the seat belt hardware). Once this is done, fold the seats down, and remove the 5 plastic clips along the back bottom edge (To remove these press the small center portion *in* slightly to release the clip, then pull the whole clip out) Fold up the now uncliped bottom edge, and unbolt the center bracket from the seat back.

4) With the backs unbolted, carefully slide them off of the side pins (where the nuts were removed earlier).

5) Reinstall, the new seat back torquing the nuts and seat bolts to 32 ft lb (43Nm). Reinstall the 5 plastic clips removed earlier from the seat backs.

6) Reinstall the "wings" torquing the small bolts to only 4 ft lb (5.5Nm)

7) Reinstall the seat bottom. (Make sure you don't get any of the seat belt hardware stuck under the seat, or you'll need to do this again.) Be sure that the two retention hooks at the back of the seat are inserted through their retention hoops, then press the front loops back down in to their retention clips.
Last edited by bdleonard on Sun Aug 09, 2020 3:03 am, edited 3 times in total.
bdleonard
Posts: 268
Joined: Mon Apr 22, 2013 4:39 am

Here are a few photos. If anybody would like a photo of any part in particular, let me know and I can add one.
Attachments
New front seats installed
New front seats installed
Front Seats.jpg (314.46 KiB) Viewed 9735 times
New rear seats installed
New rear seats installed
Rear Seats.jpg (294.88 KiB) Viewed 9735 times
Seat connectors, shown on the old removed seat
Seat connectors, shown on the old removed seat
Connector.jpg (316.31 KiB) Viewed 9735 times
Climate panel with heated seat buttons
Climate panel with heated seat buttons
Climate Panel.jpg (310.76 KiB) Viewed 9735 times
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SAEED_KIZZY
Posts: 507
Joined: Wed Sep 13, 2017 2:31 pm

Thanks @bdleonard.
today I recheck my car Relay Box No.2 and found 2 maxi-fuses for power seat ;) ;)
Nice, so adding power seat to my car needs no wiring :lol: :lol:
plug and play
KlutzNinja
Posts: 286
Joined: Wed Dec 04, 2019 6:58 am

I just realized your car’s paint is blue. Since blue Kizashis only come with tan interiors, I guess yours may be the only one in the world with black seats lol. Unless blue Kizashis in other markets can be had with black interiors. If blue models could have black stock interiors I might have gone with that instead of black in black (paint), if I had the option to choose. Would be interesting to see a full interior trim swap to make the black interior a reality.
Current: Blue 2018 Mazda 3 GT 5-Door
Previous: Blue 2010 Ford Focus SES,
Black 2013 Kizashi Sport GTS-L (CVT; FWD)(RIP)
bdleonard
Posts: 268
Joined: Mon Apr 22, 2013 4:39 am

KlutzNinja wrote:I just realized your car’s paint is blue. Since blue Kizashis only come with tan interiors, I guess yours may be the only one in the world with black seats lol.
Yeah, when I was doing it, I realized I was making a combo that would be absolutely unique. Given the dash, steering wheel, center stack, etc were already black, and I had the black all -weather mats, I don't mind the two tone look with the black seats. Certainly, a few more things, such as some trim panels, etc could be changed without too much difficulty but a full swap with the door cards, carpets, console, rear shelf, and dash would definitely be a pain.

I've had the car since new, and I was interested in the new features more than I was interested in a specific look. If I had found a reasonably priced tan set, I would have had no problem with swapping that in.
bdleonard
Posts: 268
Joined: Mon Apr 22, 2013 4:39 am

Update:
I decided to see what I though of the tan seat back shells with the black seats. I'll leave it that way for a bit and decide how I feel about it.
Attachments
IMG_130809.jpg
IMG_130809.jpg (312.18 KiB) Viewed 9401 times
IMG_130733.jpg
IMG_130733.jpg (312.68 KiB) Viewed 9401 times
Ezm3
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2020 2:14 am

Great write up. I recently acquired a 2010 GTS with black cloth and non heated seats.

If I purchased a set of leather heated seats, you are saying all I'd need to purchase would be the center stack piece to enable this feature? Very tempting if I can find an interior if so.

Thanks!
bdleonard
Posts: 268
Joined: Mon Apr 22, 2013 4:39 am

Ezm3 wrote:Great write up. I recently acquired a 2010 GTS with black cloth and non heated seats.

If I purchased a set of leather heated seats, you are saying all I'd need to purchase would be the center stack piece to enable this feature? Very tempting if I can find an interior if so.

Thanks!
To the best of my knowledge, yes. The wiring and necessary fuses should already be in the car (or at least all of the US spec cars).
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AirRideFan
Posts: 97
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2016 10:59 pm
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bdleonard wrote: Thu Sep 03, 2020 7:43 pm Update:
I decided to see what I though of the tan seat back shells with the black seats. I'll leave it that way for a bit and decide how I feel about it.
Dudddde...that is SOOO cool. I love stuff like this. You put the tan backs on the new black leather-trimmed seats, too!? That looks so cool. And I agree with KlutzNinja-- If they made the Blue with Black Interior----I'd HAVE to have one of them. You prob have the only Kizashi with this color combo! Nice job man.

Where did you acquire the seats-- a local junkyard or U-Pull-and-Pay, I'm guessing?? They look so great though! wow...
2012 KIZASHI Sport SLS

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