Creepy Neville

This is my solution to wiring in Mastercraft Baja RS Seats, Crow 5 Point Harnesses, and Factory Seat Heaters into my 2016 Jeep JK.

** This modification is intended for off-road vehicles only **

I ripped the factory seats out of my JK and sold them before I realized they were packed with sensors and wiring - ergo I was starting from scratch, and totally blind. Unfortunately, my local dealer's parts & service departments had no clue, and I couldn't find any real answers on the internet. This post has literally been about 18 months in the making - lol .....

The issues I had with the aftermarket seats and harness's were:
1. The aftermarket seat heaters were not compatable with the factory dash switches.
2. The air bag icon was illuminated on the dash

Something to keep in mind, the Airbag system employs both yellow AND grey electrical connectors - yellow specifically means it's connected to a pyrotechnic.

DRIVER'S SIDE

So this is the plug I had coming out of the floor on the driver's side - note the plug is Grey.


The first thing I did was purchase the factory seat wiring harness for each seat - then I had to figure out where the pig-tail connectors went to.


I wanted the factory seat heater switches on the dash to work, and the only way that was gonna happen was to purchase factory seat heater elements and have them installed in the Baja RS's. Note, the factory heaters won't fit into the Baja RS's due to the crotch strap - so the solution was just to switch them around (back went to bottom, bottom went to back) and then the elements fit around the belt holes in the seats.


This is something called a Seat Position Sensor - it is only on the driver's side. If you do not have the stock seat bracket (like I don't) this can be connected and then just tucked away under the seat.


So the driver's side seat harness pig-tail had four plugs - two for the seat heaters / one for the seat position sensor, which leaves one grey plug remaining. This grey plug is for the seat belt receptacle (or clasp) - this can be left alone.

The final component needed was an emulator I had built - this emulator was wired into the plug that went to the now non-existant seatbelt retractor (small yellow plug on the floor)
This is the thing that the factory seat belt rolled up into by the floor.
PM me for details about the company who makes the emulator.


PASSENGER SIDE

Passenger side plug coming out of the floor (yellow)


Passenger side seat harness (note that it is different from the driver's side)


Occupancy Sensor (only found on the passenger side)
This component sits on the seat foam, just under the cloth, if you have seat heaters, the occupancy sensor would be placed on top of the heater.


I preferred not to install the seat occupancy sensor if I didn't need to, so I scoped the Occupancy Sensor and found it had a 620 Ohm resistance - so I used two 1200 Ohm 1/4w resistors (in parallel) to give me a 600 Ohm 1/2w component


I cut the plug off the Occupancy Sensor and wired in the resistors - here's the end result. The JK's ECM was happy with it and didn't throw the occupancy sensor code.


So the passenger side seat harness pig-tail had four plugs - 2 for the seat heaters (resolved) / one for the occupancy sensor (resolved) - which leaves one yellow plug remaining. This yellow plug is for the seat belt receptacle (or clasp) - this required another emulator.

Passenger side seat harness yellow plug emulator.


The final component to beat the airbag system is a 2.2 Ohm resistor wired into the now non-existent seat belt retractor plug (yellow plug)
(The retractor is the thing that the factory seat belt rolled up into by the floor)


Here are my Mastercraft Baja RS seats with Crow Harnesses in my 2016 JK and I am throwing no codes AND my seats heaters work using the factory dash switches!


To summerize, once I installed:following components in the two seat wiring harnesses
1. The seat position sensor on the driver's side
2. The occupancy sensor on the passenger side
I connected my Innova 3160 RS and recorded the 4 codes thrown. I then made note of the codes and emailed them to an outfit I found that made the emulators needed to defeat the codes. When the emulators arrived, the owner of this outfit face-timed with me to make sure the installation was correct.

PM me if you want to get in touch with the outfit that makes the emulators - they are top tier.

I hope this helps, or at least points fellow jeepers in the right direction.

Neville

Creepy Neville

They seem pretty comfortable - but ya really gotta need or want aftermarket seats considering the work & expense involved.

Wayyyyy easier just to replace your seats with the factory offering - although, this post should clear up most (if not all) of the hurdles for a newer JK application.

As mentioned in my previous post, my truck is not throwing any codes anymore - but the process of figuring out these seat replacement issues has been epic !

Neville

Wheels22raw

So where do I get one of these: Passenger side seat harness yellow plug emulator... I got rid of all the codes but 1...B1C4E which I know has to deal with the yellow plug....

Creepy Neville

Heya Wheels22raw -

I sent ya an PM ....

Neville

thetasigma1412

Great write up. Thank you. For those of us that don’t have existing airbag seats or heated seats, are there other harnesses that we can use?

To add on another members concern, none of this scope will accidentally set off the airbag, at least I’m fairly certain…..

Creepy Neville

As far as harnesses are concerned - I’m pretty sure you can use any brand you like - as long as your seat is built for a harness to begin with.

My harness issues arose from the fact that I had to use the factory heating elements in the seats (so my factory dash switches would operate them) - and due to their shape - they covered up the sub strap slit in the seat. By switching the bottom element and back element with each other (they are different shapes) I was able to make things work.

Hindsight is of course 20/20, but after the dust settled, the process for installing aftermarket seats and clearing the DTC’s is pretty straight forward:

1. Obtain each factory seat’s wiring harness
(this will tell you what components you will need to work-around)

2. Grey plugs will need a component or resistor (your choice)

Yellow plugs (airbag pyrotechnics) are gonna need an emulator.
(your PCM wants to ‘talk’ to it - a resistor alone won’t cut it).

Feel free to PM me if you need more info, or get stuck in your install.

As mentioned in my original post -

** This modification is intended for off-road vehicles only **

Hope this helps,

Neville

volintejas

I’m stuck and I haven’t even started yet

Great write up but I have a few questions about your wiring overview but I cannot send a PM for some reason…

Can you send me a PM if you have a free moment?

Creepy Neville

Hey Volintejas -

I sent you a PM ....

Neville

kreepinjk

Could you message me the links to the emulators please. Just installed PRP seats and need to get rid of the lights.

Weebz

I know I’m digging up an old post but trying to get some information on the emulators you had made. Any assistance would be great. Thanks.