A possible opportunity exists for 12 volt expeditors in the coming months in aftermarket heated seats for General Motors vehicles.
General Motors stopped including heated seats in much of its 2022 lineup last month in order to conserve semiconductor chips that are in short supply to keep assembly lines running.
It announced recently that it will start retrofitting the vehicles with the feature in the second quarter next year. (At that time, customers return to the dealer who inserts the missing chip).
General Motors is also shipping vehicles without heated steering wheels. It has not yet announced when consumers might be able to activate that feature in the future.
This may create a narrow window of opportunity for 12 volt expeditors to install kits. This is particularly true in the Northeast, where heated seats can make or break a car sale.
One aftermarket supplier of heated seat kits confirmed sales have surged recently.
The aftermarket kits include a heated seat element. The installer pulls off the seat fabric and places a carbon fiber pad on the bottom of the seat. A switch is then installed on the side that takes power and ground.
The following GM cars are shipping without the feature, according to CNET:
Chevrolet
Malibu, Trailblazer, Blazer, Equinox, Traverse, Colorado, Silverado 1500 and Silverado HD. The changes are not across all trims, so some vehicles may still offer heated seats in certain configurations.
GMC
Canyon, Terrain, Acadia, Sierra 1500 and Sierra HD
Buick
Encore GX, Envision and Enclave
Cadillac
XT4, XT5 and XT6 SUVs.
Heated steering wheels are missing on many of the same vehicles as well as on cars such as the Chevy Bolt EV and EUV, Tahoe, GMC Yukon, Cadillac CT4 and CT5, depending on the trim.
