So my heated seat in my subaru had a hot spot under my left leg when I bought it, and then it stopped working. Today I decided to investigate.

The hot spot was hotter than I thought, which made the problem easy to find. Attached is a picture.



The tiny wires are the heating element, and the larger wire is a 22ga single-conductor wire for scale. The top wire is actually closer, so look to the bottom small wire for size.

I want to just cut out the bad section and solder in a wire there. What gauge should I use? Any suggestions for things to do or avoid? I'm no stranger to wiring, but I have never worked with heating elements or anything like this before.

 

Are the heating element wires special? In that, is the wire jacket/cover special? Can they be soildered together or will that creat another hot spot?

You might call an interior shop and ask a few questions. You don't want toasted buns or burnt nuts.

 

What would be an interior shop? I have never heard of one of those before.

 

Oh yeah, and I am planning to solder a new piece of wire in that is bigger, I just don't know how much bigger to go. I know there will be a "cold spot" but it's just where the wire goes under a "fold" in the seat anyway.

 

There's gotta be a wire on the other end. Use that as a gauge to know how thick a wire to use.