Retrofitted Heated Seats - cost / what's involved?

[rossm]

I've heard about some dealers retrofitting heated seats on Mk3 Octavia's.   

Has anyone here done this themselves, or know what's invovled?  Is the wiring in place or does it require new looms behind the dash?  Presumably it's the addition of heated pads to the existing seats (inc. vRS) or do the seats need swapped out?

 

Or, if anyone has paid to have it done, what was the ballpark cost?

 

Many Thanks

 

 

[AllanDJ]

There are companies that can do this but you'd be very lucky if the necessary wiring was already there in your car, most will cut the seat open at a seam/s and then put the pad in with wiring etc. I did look into this myself as it was the one and only option that I really wanted with my car and just couldn't get as I had that as standard on my last car. I think with the retro fitted options that some of them actually have the on off switch for the heated seats on the side of the seat, probably to make it easier to fit without messing around fitting new switches and wiring in your dash but you could be looking at £500 to £600 cost. I ended up with the quick and cheap option of a heated seat cover from Lidl for £10! Nowhere near as good as having it factory fitted but best I could manage without some serious investment in a PCP car which I might not necessarily keep for the full term. If I were absolutely definitely going to buy the car at the end of the term, then I would get heated seats retro fitted but most likely by a third party as my Skoda dealers didn't seem to have any great interest in tackling this kind of task and other garages have talked about using independent companies to fit heated seats into customers cars. It is quite a specialist job to do neatly without damaging the seats and to be honest I doubt very much if there is actually any serious cost to adding heated seats to the car in the factory, it is standard in most Scandinavian countries and should really be included in Elegance/ SE L cars as standard equipment.

[rossm]

Thanks Allan.  Likewise, I've had heated seats in my last two cars, so I'm quite fussy about having them on my next.  I'm browsing the used market just now for an Octavia vRS, but limiting the search to those with heated seats or winter pack reduces my options considerably.

 

I've seen the kits that place the button on the seat base, but I'd be looking for the OEM kit with buttons on the dashboard.  Doesn't sound like it'd be too feasible or cost effective.

[Bindinbear]

Thats why i had my options factory fitted. Been there, done that on previous cars. Costly, time consuming. I appreciate the 2nd hand market doesn't always cover this. My edn30 sold on the first call because i chose a popular colour, box and only had to add factory bluetooth and voice control retrofit which was easy on the mk5 making it an all singing and dancing car with 5dr practicality. Its things like xenons etc that would cost the most. I'd look for a car with the more costly options fitted and maybe retrofit the easier stuff ie folding mirrors.

Edited 1 June, 2015 by Bindinbear

[pipsyp]

Might be worth PM'ing Eddie-NL....hes a bit of a retrofit king (on MK2's at least) and he may be able to do it but it would cost you I am sure.

[STU3Y]

An old thread I know, but just in case anyone is wondering what thecurrent cost would be. I just did the front seats in my 2017 Vrs 230. It cost me £378 to do it myself.

 

1. Control panel with heated seat buttons       £54.54 (eBay)
2. Kufatec looms for each seat and fuse.box loom £146.47 (Kufatec)
3. Genuine skoda pads with heated side bolsters for base and backrest - £88.63 per seat (Skodaparts.com)