I haven't seen any particular threads, or writeups, for how to fix the heated seats in 2010-2012 Taurus'. It should generally be the same for most heated seats in general, but hopefully this will be helpful as it's specific to the 5-6 gens.
I have an SEL with the two-position heated seats, and the drivers side recently stopped working. The light would turn on, then shut itself back down, presumably because the small fire the wire made (more to that later) was overheating the seat.
First, I'd check the fuse. For mine, it was a pink 30a in the #22 spot. If your switch is turning on, and the passenger side is working, chances are it's not the fuse. The manual says that they both share that same one. If the light won't turn on, but the fuse is good, time to break out the multimeter and check the switch.
If you're unlucky like I was, and the seat needs to be removed and repaired, here's how:
-Disconnect the battery. Could be overkill for this job, but anytime I'm going to be pulling fuses/unplugging connectors, I unplug the battery.
-The seat is held down by four 13mm bolts. Two in the back, two in the rear. You'll have to pull the plastic pieces up, and out to access these.
![Image]()
![Image]()
-Pull up the plastic cover where the seat belt goes into, and unbolt the 13mm bolt here to remove it.
![Image]()
-Remove the headrest. Pretty self explanatory, but here's a picture anyways.
![Image]()
-Underneath the seat, there is a large wiring harness. To disconnect this, you must push down on the black tabs, which will allow you to pull back on the plastic gray bar, and then disconnect the harness.
![Image]()
-Now, you're ready to pull the seat out. Recline the seat back a fair amount, and it will make things easier. Be CAREFUL not to scratch any of your nice plastic trim pieces with the metal tracks on the bottom.
-Find a nice comfy spot to set the seat down to work on it. I'd put a towel down or something if you're not a rug like I was, just to be sure nothing can damage the leather. Flip the seat onto it's back.
![Image]()
![Image]()
-Using a 7mm socket, remove the bolt holding the plastic piece to the seat. This bolt will be on the front, facing the ceiling at this point if you're having trouble finding it.
![Image]()
-Gently pull on the bottom of the plastic piece, and it will remove the plastic connectors from the metal rail. If they're being stubborn, use a flathead to pry on them.. gently!
![Image]()
-On the back of the seat, or bottom if it's on it's back still, there is a push pin held in with a philips head screws. This is easier to remove if you pry off the black plastic clips on the bottom that are holding the seat cover down. There will be 2 or 3 smaller ones, then one large one. Take note of where these attach to.
![Image]()
-Next, towards the bottom and near where the lever is to recline the seat, there's one final 7mm bolt holding the plastic to the seat. It's kind of hard to tell where it is from the picture, but it is underneath the plastic piece that my flathead is touching in the photo. You will most certainly find an extension helpful here, especially if you have larger hands like I do.
![Image]()
![Image]()
-To remove the lumbar control wheel, and the reclining lever, you will first have to remove two pins that are (more or less) holding them in place. After you remove those, both of these just pull right out. Make sure you also disconnect the gray wiring harness towards the top that plugs into the seat controls.
![Image]()
-The plastic piece on the side of the seat is FINALLY ready to be removed. Slide it up (assuming your seat is still on it's back), and it will come right off. There is a metal tab that goes into a plastic part on the inside of the trim piece. Make a note of this for reassembly.
![Image]()
-With this off, you can now access the clips holding the leather (or cloth) seat cover on. Go around and unhook these, taking note of where they all attach to. There are 3 on the right side, one in the front, one in the corner, and one on the left side (that faces the center console when the seat is installed).
![Image]()
-Pull up on the seat cover to expose the heating element. The cover is held in place with more plastic tabs. Pull these up gently, and use a flathead to pry and stubborn ones loose.
![Image]()
-I used duct tape to hold the seat cover up in place so that it stays out of the way.
![Image]()
-At this point, if you have any wires that have burned through, it should be very obvious. There will be a black burned spot on one of the pads, or in my case, on the wires that bridge together the two parts of the heating pad.
![Image]()
-I'm not sure why, but the blue plastic piece that helps hold the seat cover in place goes right over the wires that connect the two heating pads. I'm sure it was easier to install this in one piece, but I can't imagine having those pushing down and straining the wires every time you sit down would make for a very durable product. On mine, the wire burned right into the plastic when it overheated.
![Image]()
-At this point, bust out the soldering iron, and fix any of the broken wires. Be sure and use heat shrink tubing over your solders instead of electrical tape. I use the tubing, then electrical tape to hold them down, which I'm hoping will hold up to the heat. The only wire I had handy to repair it with was some 14gauge primary wire insulated stuff, which appeared to be pretty close in size.
![Image]()
-Once you're all done, I'd highly recommend testing it first before buttoning everything back up. For some reason, when I plugged the huge harness back in and pushed the heated seat button, it shut right down again. I removed the fuse, then put it back in, which solved the issue. I let the seat run for about 20 minutes while I watched it to make sure it didn't burn up in flames, then reinstalled everything.
Also, you can see in the picture that part of the blue plastic piece that clamps down into the seat cushion is missing. I decided to remove the risk of that pressing down on the wires, and cut the sections out that sit on them. It didn't seem to affect anything, and the cover still went back on nice and snug.
![Image]()
I have an SEL with the two-position heated seats, and the drivers side recently stopped working. The light would turn on, then shut itself back down, presumably because the small fire the wire made (more to that later) was overheating the seat.
First, I'd check the fuse. For mine, it was a pink 30a in the #22 spot. If your switch is turning on, and the passenger side is working, chances are it's not the fuse. The manual says that they both share that same one. If the light won't turn on, but the fuse is good, time to break out the multimeter and check the switch.
If you're unlucky like I was, and the seat needs to be removed and repaired, here's how:
-Disconnect the battery. Could be overkill for this job, but anytime I'm going to be pulling fuses/unplugging connectors, I unplug the battery.
-The seat is held down by four 13mm bolts. Two in the back, two in the rear. You'll have to pull the plastic pieces up, and out to access these.
-Pull up the plastic cover where the seat belt goes into, and unbolt the 13mm bolt here to remove it.
-Remove the headrest. Pretty self explanatory, but here's a picture anyways.
-Underneath the seat, there is a large wiring harness. To disconnect this, you must push down on the black tabs, which will allow you to pull back on the plastic gray bar, and then disconnect the harness.
-Now, you're ready to pull the seat out. Recline the seat back a fair amount, and it will make things easier. Be CAREFUL not to scratch any of your nice plastic trim pieces with the metal tracks on the bottom.
-Find a nice comfy spot to set the seat down to work on it. I'd put a towel down or something if you're not a rug like I was, just to be sure nothing can damage the leather. Flip the seat onto it's back.
-Using a 7mm socket, remove the bolt holding the plastic piece to the seat. This bolt will be on the front, facing the ceiling at this point if you're having trouble finding it.
-Gently pull on the bottom of the plastic piece, and it will remove the plastic connectors from the metal rail. If they're being stubborn, use a flathead to pry on them.. gently!
-On the back of the seat, or bottom if it's on it's back still, there is a push pin held in with a philips head screws. This is easier to remove if you pry off the black plastic clips on the bottom that are holding the seat cover down. There will be 2 or 3 smaller ones, then one large one. Take note of where these attach to.
-Next, towards the bottom and near where the lever is to recline the seat, there's one final 7mm bolt holding the plastic to the seat. It's kind of hard to tell where it is from the picture, but it is underneath the plastic piece that my flathead is touching in the photo. You will most certainly find an extension helpful here, especially if you have larger hands like I do.
-To remove the lumbar control wheel, and the reclining lever, you will first have to remove two pins that are (more or less) holding them in place. After you remove those, both of these just pull right out. Make sure you also disconnect the gray wiring harness towards the top that plugs into the seat controls.
-The plastic piece on the side of the seat is FINALLY ready to be removed. Slide it up (assuming your seat is still on it's back), and it will come right off. There is a metal tab that goes into a plastic part on the inside of the trim piece. Make a note of this for reassembly.
-With this off, you can now access the clips holding the leather (or cloth) seat cover on. Go around and unhook these, taking note of where they all attach to. There are 3 on the right side, one in the front, one in the corner, and one on the left side (that faces the center console when the seat is installed).
-Pull up on the seat cover to expose the heating element. The cover is held in place with more plastic tabs. Pull these up gently, and use a flathead to pry and stubborn ones loose.
-I used duct tape to hold the seat cover up in place so that it stays out of the way.
-At this point, if you have any wires that have burned through, it should be very obvious. There will be a black burned spot on one of the pads, or in my case, on the wires that bridge together the two parts of the heating pad.
-I'm not sure why, but the blue plastic piece that helps hold the seat cover in place goes right over the wires that connect the two heating pads. I'm sure it was easier to install this in one piece, but I can't imagine having those pushing down and straining the wires every time you sit down would make for a very durable product. On mine, the wire burned right into the plastic when it overheated.
-At this point, bust out the soldering iron, and fix any of the broken wires. Be sure and use heat shrink tubing over your solders instead of electrical tape. I use the tubing, then electrical tape to hold them down, which I'm hoping will hold up to the heat. The only wire I had handy to repair it with was some 14gauge primary wire insulated stuff, which appeared to be pretty close in size.
-Once you're all done, I'd highly recommend testing it first before buttoning everything back up. For some reason, when I plugged the huge harness back in and pushed the heated seat button, it shut right down again. I removed the fuse, then put it back in, which solved the issue. I let the seat run for about 20 minutes while I watched it to make sure it didn't burn up in flames, then reinstalled everything.
Also, you can see in the picture that part of the blue plastic piece that clamps down into the seat cushion is missing. I decided to remove the risk of that pressing down on the wires, and cut the sections out that sit on them. It didn't seem to affect anything, and the cover still went back on nice and snug.
