Volvo 850 heated seats fix

[Clark]

Dear All,

Are there any common faults with the heated seats on the 850? My passenger seat isn't working. The seats are electric. Any common failures? Are they easy to fix? With a 25 year old car I wonder if it's better to leave it not working than fix it to avoid the seat catching on fire (old tech)! Any thoughts?

[Cookeh]

Fair few threads on this already, think I even posted one with a fix not all that long ago...or may have been in my project thread... Anyway, the thermostat wires breaking are the most common issue. Slap some new some terminals on and job done. Can be done in car but is easier with the seat out for obvious reasons.

Second most common failure is snapped heating elements from people doing stupid stuff like kneeling on the seat base. This rarely stops it working outright but typically leads to some zones not heating at all.

[CNGBiFuel]

Not entirely relevant, but I'll add this anyway. My V70 came without heated-seats. My lad was doing a seat refurb job.

He found some used switches, put in the elements from used seats, and Bob's your Auntie - loom was already there in default.

Thus, no wiring required. Switches and heater-elements, and the thing works.