The Best Heated Seat Covers for Your Car | Hainan Car Seat Cover Co.,Ltd

If you live in an area that experiences freezing temperatures in the winter, you can appreciate the effect of the best heated seat covers for your car. Getting into a cold car with cold seats on a 0 degree morning is a harsh way to start the morning. Even if you start the car in advance to let it warm up a bit, the seats often hold in the cold, creating an uncomfortable situation for the early portion of your morning commute.

Over the past decade, more and more automakers have begun offering heated front seats as standard equipment on premium models. Even the least expensive economy cars sold in North America can be ordered with heated seats, while the feature is standard on the higher priced trim levels of most models in every segment. That is great for anyone who bought a new car, truck or sport utility vehicle in the past few years or anyone who drives a pricier vehicle, but if you drive a lower priced trim level of an older model, the odds are good that you are left sitting in a cold seat when you leave for work in the morning.

Fortunately, there are many heated seat covers available that will allow you to add the premium feature to any car. Picking the best heated seat covers for your car can be tough, but below, we have put together a list of 10 of the most popular options on the market.

If you want the absolute best heated seat cover for your car, Kingleting is the brand for you. The Kingleting heated seat cushion has a large coverage area, with a center section that has a quilted appearance, with added detail through the portions that cover the bolster areas of a bucket seat. The quilted center area is heated, so the vast majority of the contact area between your back and the cover is heated. When installed, it covers most of the factory seat skin, so it also provides some protection against dirt and stains on lighter colored upholstery.

One of the aspects of the Kingleting heated seat cushion is the weight-sensitive automatic on/off control. When you sit down on this cover, the power button located in the center of the front flap – between your knees – the button illuminates red to indicate that it is operating at the highest setting. With the red light, this cover heats to 140 degrees Fahrenheit while the green mode heats to 122 degrees and the blue mode heats to 104 degrees.

Finally, the Kingleting heated seat cushion comes with a 63-inch power cord and plug ends for both a cigarette lighter port in your car or a standard wall plug in your house. That means that when not in use in your car, you can put this cover on your office chair and continue to enjoy the extra warmth.

One of the reasons that you might be holding off on buying heated seat covers is that you won't get much use out of them. Figure that you will probably use them whenever you are driving during the winter months, but through the spring, summer and fall months, you won't get much use from a heated seat cover. Buying something that you will only use for a few months a year might disinterest you, but not all seat covers only provide heat.

The Snailax seat cushions are heated and cooled, so you can make use of them pretty much all year long. Like most heated seats, the center section of the base and back pads is heated, but unlike the other options on our list, there is a built-in cooling fan and a unique channel construction that pushes fresh air up through both sections of the cover. This helps keep the areas on your body which contact the seat cooler during a long drive, but more importantly, the cooling feature makes the Snailax cushion useful all year long.

The Snailax seat cushion is controlled via a wired remote and can be powered by a cigarette lighter outlet in a car or a standard wall outlet in your home or office. In other words, this is another car seat cushion that you can use in places other than your vehicle.

The vast majority of the best heated seat covers for your car are priced between $25 and $50, with the most expensive item on our list topping out at $83. For those who want full-seat heat coverage while spending as little money as possible, the Zone Tech brand has a great solution. Their heated car seat cover is priced under $20, but it offers comparable heating coverage to the pricier options on the list.

What makes the Zone Tech heated car seat covers different from the other, pricier options on the list is the overall size and construction. Most seat covers that offer heat through the base and back have a design that covers the majority of the surface of the seat while only the center sections of the cover are actually heated. On the other hand, the Zone Tech cover doesn't have the unheated portions on the side, so the cover is smaller overall while still providing just as much heated contact area with your body.

The Zone Tech cover has multiple heat settings on control box that is inline of the power cord, which plugs into the cigarette lighter port in your vehicle. The control box also has an automatic 45-minute shutoff time, preventing the cover from running your battery down in the event that you forget to turn it off when you get to your destination.

If you really want to keep the purchase price low, the best heated seat cover for your car is this base-only unit from Big Hippo. With a price around $17, it is the least expensive option on our list, but there is one key difference from the rest of the heated seat covers on our list. This item only covers the base of the seat; it does not extend up across the base of the seat. As a result, rather than wrapping around the whole seat, it wraps around a portion of the base, with part of the cover extending through the tight spot between the seat base and back.

Other than the shape and installation differences, this Big Hippo seat cover works just like the larger, more elaborate heated seat covers. The power cord has a USB end with a cigarette lighter adapter, so it can plug into many different power points in your car, truck or SUV. Since the cord has a USB connection, this heated cover will also work in your office by plugging it into your computer. When in use, this Big Hippo heated cover offers a range of 86 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, with an automaker shut off to prevent overheating or battery drain.

If you drive a luxury vehicle that has black leather seats, but lacks heated seats, you might want a heated seat cover that blends in with the factory appearance. If you are one of the drivers who wants a premium-looking seat cover that blends in with black upholstery with a factory-like appearance without paying a fortune, Eluto offers the best heated seat cover for your car.

These Eluto seat covers are made from black upholstery that blends in with factory leather. Like many modern vehicles, the surface of this cover has perforations that mimic the appearance of cooled factory leather seats, although this cover only heats – it does not offer cooling. It does, however, cover the majority of the seating surface, including the thigh pad area, creating a factory look complete with the quilted center section that we see in many luxury vehicles.

This Eluto seat cover features three heat settings which are controlled by a small button panel that is integrated into the seat cover itself, rather than being part of the power cord. The temperature ranges from 110 to 150, and it will automatically shut off after 50 minutes, protecting the vehicle's battery. Best of all, with a price around $25, it is one of the less expensive options while offering the premium look.

Heated seats were once reserved for premium luxury vehicles before becoming an option in mainstream models. Another seat feature that began in the premium luxury world that is just beginning to show up in volume models such as high-end pickups and large SUVs is the massaging seat. In the same way that companies figured out a way to easily add heated seats, companies have started to add the massaging feature to their heated seat covers.

The Five S vibration massage seat warmer has a heated center section like the rest of the products on our list, but it also has 10 electric vibration motors scattered throughout the base and back of the cover. This creates six massaging points in the back portion and four in the base, offering the massaging feature for your neck, upper and lower back and thighs. The black cloth pads cover the majority of the factory seat surface, so it will also provide some protection against stains. It comes with a wired controller that offers a wide variety of patterns for the massage and the heat, with big buttons that are easy to use when you are wearing gloves.

The Five S massaging seat warmer is in the upper end of the pricing scale at roughly $40, costing quite a bit more than most covers that only heat, but in the same range as the multipurpose covers that heat and cool.

Aside from the one item mentioned above that offers massage as well, most of the best heated seat covers on the market are designed to change the temperature of the seat surface and nothing more. Many people who have issues with their lower back need extra support when driving and for those people, the Healthmate brand has the answer. Their heated velour seat cover is designed to offer extra lumbar support, making this item ideal for anyone who wants a warm seat and added lower back support.

The Healthmate is smaller than most of the covers on our list, extending from the middle of the seat-back to the edge of the center of the base, leaving most of the bolster areas uncovered. The thick padding provides support through the middle of your back with extra padding in the lower back, providing the advertised lumbar support. Heat is applied through the center of the upper and lower portions, so it doesn't just warm your back. The cover is controlled by an inline switch with high and low settings on the power cord, which plugs into your vehicle's cigarette lighter port.

With pricing in the $40 range, this is one of the pricier covers on the list that doesn't massage or cool, but it is the only one that focused on lumbar support.

Many of the best heated seat covers on our list are designed to blend in with the factory seat cover, but the Sojoy Universal Smart Heated Seat Cover takes a different approach. This cover has defined padding throughout every section, with each set of directional pads situated in a way that fits the body. As a result, the Sojoy cover should provide you with more of a snug feeling against the seat, similar to what you would experience in a high-end sports car. In short, this cover creates the basic feel of a sporty bucket seat, even on a very broad vehicle seat.

The Sojoy heated seat cover has a large block of heating elements in the back portion and another in the base, providing focused heat to each area. Power is provided by a cigarette lighter port plug and the control for the cover – with three temperature settings – is located inline of the power cord. This seat cover will get up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit and it has a built-in 45-minute shutoff timer that prevents the unit from draining your battery if left on in a parked car. According to the company, it only takes 3 minutes to fully heat up, so on a cold morning, it will take your vehicle's heater longer to begin warming you up.

The Big Hippo brand made our list further up for offering the best base-only heated seat cover, but the company also offers a popular full-seat cover as well. Their covers are large enough to cover the entire base of your factory seat and the majority of the base portion, with even heating across both surfaces and protecting from stains and damage of the factory seat material This cover uses textured pads, allowing the unit to contour more evenly with your body while also fitting better into the lines of the factory seat cushions.

The Big Hippo cover attaches to the seat with elastic cords and hooks, while the control box with high and low heat settings is located inline of the power cord. This unit comes with a standard cigarette lighter port plug, but you can also buy an AC adapter, allowing you to plug this seat warmer into a wall socket in a building. In other words, you can use this seat heater in your vehicle, home or office. In low heat mode, the cover is around 110 degrees while the high setting climbs up to 120 degrees, and it takes around 3 minutes to heat up on a cold morning.

How Heated Seat Covers Work

The best heated seat covers for your car have a series of wiring that winds through the base and back areas of the seating area. When plugged in and turned on, power runs through those wires and they heat up. The heat from those warm wires radiates out through the surface of the seat cover, leading to warmer contact points along the base and back of the seats.

Power for heated seat covers comes from a simple source, such as the cigarette lighter outlet or a similar power point. The covers attach to the seat with a series of hooks and elastic straps, and the function of the cover is usually controlled by a basic on-off switch. As mentioned above, there are some options that turn on automatically when you sit on them and all of them have automatic temperature control systems to prevent the surface from getting too hot.

Picking which heated seat cover is best for you depends on a few basic criteria. How much do you want to spend? Do you want more coverage or less coverage of the factory seat cover? Do you want a fluffy cover or something that is sleek and sophisticated? Once you answer those questions, you should be able to pick from the 10 seat covers above.

Feature Photo by By frantic00/Shutterstock

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Heated seats great for a sore back even in the summer

Yes, but make sure you get one that does the back separate from the butt.