Heated Seat Issue

After jumping in the passenger seat for the first time I noticed that the heated seat on the passenger side was absolutely lovely and toasty, which many passengers have commented on before, I'd never really thought there was a problem with the drivers seat until I sat in the passenger seat!

So I decided to start the car up this morning and test the seats with a temperature gauge without anyone having sat in it and sure enough, the passenger seat works well, and the drivers doesn't look like it does (or at least it doesn't seem to be working properly). So I think I may have a faulty heated seat and I then fired off a quick email of to Caterham about this to suggest that there may be a warranty claim needed.

For clarification I took a few videos just to outline the problem so they could see for themselves.

As I was just putting in the crutch straps, I decided that I would test the electrics with a multimeter first, before then swapping the seats over to see if I could narrow it down to a faulty seat.

So with the seats swapped (and my new crutch straps installed) it's certainly clear that one of the chairs is faulty. After switching the two chairs over, the drivers seat now gets so toasty. So after a bit more diagnosis I took a few more videos and sent them of to Caterham.

It wasn't long before they confirmed that they would be making a warranty claim for me, however it is not a simple send back and swap resolution. I've been told that they will need to take my seat and send off to the manufacturers for repairs/replacements to confirm that it is nothing I have done, which would leave me without a passenger seat. They could not determine how long this would take either.

Thankfully the guys at Caterham Silverstone are going to lend me a spare seat (non heated!) whilst this warranty claim is resolved, so I'm quite happy about that.

Heated seat was fixed, I had to drive down to Caterham Silverstone to pick it up, which I did in the Caterham so I could swap the seat back in there and then. They were kind enough to offer a jack and some axle stands!

Below is a video I took after the seats had been swapped and I had been for a drive with both seats on their max setting. It turns out that even though the air temp was about 6 degrees, the cabin and seats warmed up to a 16-17 degree temperature just naturally from the air in the cabin hitting it (from the heater). Both headrests ended up at this temperatures so they are the "control" so to speak.

It is clear that the passenger seat temperatures didn't rise at all, and the drivers went up to above 25 degrees very quickly. Before the seat swap the passenger seat got up to temperature very quickly as shown in the photo above.