powerslide
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- May 16, 2014
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I saw at least 1 thread discussing the flashing light on the heated seat switch on a 1st Gen Genesis. Unfortunately, I was experiencing the same problem in my 2015 2G. I would turn on the heated seat and within 10 seconds or so, the top light only would start flashing and could not be reset without turning off the car. I'm over 70k miles and the 1G fix was a total replacement of the lower seat for $800 = not an option for me. I checked the 25 amp fuse under the hood and it was fine. The other three seat heaters worked fine. So I decided to take things apart and see what I could see. This was on a base model so the driver seat does NOT have the cooling option or leg extension.
There are a couple straps on the bottom back of the seat that hook onto the underside of the seat cushion area. After removing those, the lower portion of the back seat cover will flex up and away. from there I was able raise the power seat all the way up for clearance and unclip several connectors (power seat back/heated seat back/heated seat base). The smaller clips (white and gray) are part of the seat heater wiring. I was able to use a multimeter to determine I had continuity through the seat back heater, but no continuity through the seat base heater (yellow and black wires). I believe this is what the control unit was sensing and shutting it down with the flashing light. There are also thin white and brown wires going to the seat base that is the thermocouple to control the temperature.
In order to remove the seat base cushion and cover I had to remove the plastic bezel from the front of the seat. There is a plastic cap near the center console with a spot for a small screw driver to pop it off nearest the center console. Remove the screw. The other end of this bezel just clips into the next piece that is still screwed in. Gently bend away and unclip. This exposes the screw for the next piece. There are a bunch of clips attached to the perimeter of the leather seat cover that hook on the underside of the seat base. I was able to remove all of these by hand and a couple with the help of a screw driver. Then I was able to pull the cushion free.

I pulled back the leather and found that the heater in the left edge of the seat nearest the door had dramatically overheated until it failed.

I removed the damaged wire and replaced it with some much larger gauge copper wire. I soldered it in and used shrink tube to insulate it. It won't heat, but it will keep the circuit complete and allow the rest of the non-damaged resistive filament to heat.

I put everything back together and it works great again. I suspect the wear and tear of getting in and out of the car damaged the braided heater filament in that location so that the power was running through fewer strands which should cause it to get hotter than it was designed to. I don't know how long it will last but I'm glad to have a heated seat again. Hopefully this helps someone.
Powerslide
There are a couple straps on the bottom back of the seat that hook onto the underside of the seat cushion area. After removing those, the lower portion of the back seat cover will flex up and away. from there I was able raise the power seat all the way up for clearance and unclip several connectors (power seat back/heated seat back/heated seat base). The smaller clips (white and gray) are part of the seat heater wiring. I was able to use a multimeter to determine I had continuity through the seat back heater, but no continuity through the seat base heater (yellow and black wires). I believe this is what the control unit was sensing and shutting it down with the flashing light. There are also thin white and brown wires going to the seat base that is the thermocouple to control the temperature.
In order to remove the seat base cushion and cover I had to remove the plastic bezel from the front of the seat. There is a plastic cap near the center console with a spot for a small screw driver to pop it off nearest the center console. Remove the screw. The other end of this bezel just clips into the next piece that is still screwed in. Gently bend away and unclip. This exposes the screw for the next piece. There are a bunch of clips attached to the perimeter of the leather seat cover that hook on the underside of the seat base. I was able to remove all of these by hand and a couple with the help of a screw driver. Then I was able to pull the cushion free.

I pulled back the leather and found that the heater in the left edge of the seat nearest the door had dramatically overheated until it failed.

I removed the damaged wire and replaced it with some much larger gauge copper wire. I soldered it in and used shrink tube to insulate it. It won't heat, but it will keep the circuit complete and allow the rest of the non-damaged resistive filament to heat.

I put everything back together and it works great again. I suspect the wear and tear of getting in and out of the car damaged the braided heater filament in that location so that the power was running through fewer strands which should cause it to get hotter than it was designed to. I don't know how long it will last but I'm glad to have a heated seat again. Hopefully this helps someone.
Powerslide