Am I using my heated seats wrong?

My seat warms nicely from me sitting on it.

Heated seats allowed me to have the top down a good 5° cooler on the Porsche.  I'm installing them on my Miata.

I always know when the heaters are on in my ‘15 Elantra. I can smell the searing flesh. 

In reply to Sonic :

I had a set of those installed on the DMC when I had new seat covers put on when I did the initial restore. They seem to work well enough, but at the same time I've rarely driven it in the winter... -_-

The Stealth family's Rondo has heated seats, and they are a universal favourite.  I can also confirm that a leather-covered steering wheel gets, and stays, DAMN COLD in Canada, so heating that in the next vehicle is the plan.  I drive better when I'm not grimacing.

My sister's old 9-7X Trollblazer had heated seats too; they started at Level 1, Warm, and got hotter from there.  This is a perfectly reasonable arrangement: dial in the temperature you want. 

In the Kia, OTOH, the engineers obviously decided that if you were turning the heated seats on at all, it was probably because your butt was cold, so the heat starts at Max and you can turn it down later as required.

Both choices make engineering sense, but the Kia one makes more human sense. 

I don't know if you can/should turn that into any useful extrapolations about anything.

The QX4 has heated seats, first vehicle we've had with factory heated seats. They only have two settings- pleasantly warm and, per the wife, "Worry that I've unknowingly pissed my pants." They usually get turned to high initially and down to low once I actually notice the heat through my coat & pants.

Nice thing about it is that the rear seats are heated as well, which has been popular with family visiting when it's been unseasonably cold, and will likely be appreciated by The Dog when we drive it up to the Frozen North (WI) for Christmas. Unfortunately it does not have a heated steering wheel, something the Dancer's grandparents have on their SUV up in WI and that I definitely appreciated when I drove it shuttling them back home last Christmas.

WonkoTheSane said:

Heated seats allowed me to have the top down a good 5° cooler on the Porsche.  I'm installing them on my Miata.

Ok that's something I haven't thought of, I think the Mustang needs them now.

When riding in my mom’s Subaru, if it is cool enough to have the windows closed, I have the heater on. Always on high. My complaint is they aren’t hot enough. It also seems to have some overload protection as it will stop heating and I have to turn it off for a few minutes then turn it back on. I want “Eternal Damnation” as a setting. 

Have not shopped for five year old Hyundais yet, but I know from SAAB experience that whether the seats are leather or cloth makes a huge difference to the percieved heat of the warmers.  The ultimate temperature obtained might be the same, but the cloth seats started to warm through immediately, and got to comfy on the lowest setting in about eight minutes on a 32 degree morning.  I only know the time to that precision as my drive to work takes 7 minutes and 45 seconds, and just as I arrive in the parking lot I no longer want to get out of the car...

The leather ones take longer to feel the initial heat through the seat cover, so I tend to start them off on high, and by the time I get to work, I'm in a hurry to get out of the car and find a snowbank to sit down in Looney Tunes style... 

Brian said:

When riding in my mom’s Subaru, if it is cool enough to have the windows closed, I have the heater on. Always on high. My complaint is they aren’t hot enough. It also seems to have some overload protection as it will stop heating and I have to turn it off for a few minutes then turn it back on. I want “Eternal Damnation” as a setting. 

My BRZ did that. So damn annoying.

Although i am amused by having heated seats this time around, it has reinforced that I really hate leather/pleather seating surfaces.  Hot in summer and cold in winter.  I'd prefer cloth seats, with or without heaters, over the leather heated stuff.

Count me as not being a fan of heated seats. My wife however runs them on lava year round. I just love it when it's 112 outside and I hop into her car to move it and the heated seats are set to inferno. 

I'd probably love cooled seats though.

1988RedT2 said:

This clearly is a symptom of all that is wrong with this country.  I ask you, what kind of MAN would give a rat's butt about whether or not his vehicle had heated seats?  The lot of you bun warmers need to man up!

I admit......i always saw seat warmers as kind of funny, Im almost always too hot and my explorer daily has vinyl seats....that i later put leather seat covers on. They are like the opposite side of the spectrum in the cold and after a few seconds.....its not cold anyway.

However, i do construction and the thought of a heat pad on my lower back as i drive makes me happy. Im conflicted

My cure for the cold steering wheel.   A pair of gloves.

All car enthusiasts have driving gloves.   

I'm eh on heated seats because I like the cold enough that I wear shorts year round, but I will say the testicle vent needs to make a comeback.


Nothing screams luxury on a summer day like chilled air blasting at my boys.

iceracer said:

My cure for the cold steering wheel.   A pair of gloves.

All car enthusiasts have driving gloves.   

I'm perfectly OK using my gloves on the race track because it's a safety issue.  But "driving gloves" for the street simply suck

Wear the gloves until things warm up.

 To paraphrase some one:    What a bunch of wimps.

Klayfish said:

iceracer said:

My cure for the cold steering wheel.   A pair of gloves.

All car enthusiasts have driving gloves.   

I'm perfectly OK using my gloves on the race track because it's a safety issue.  But "driving gloves" for the street simply suck

When my Dad worked as a radio engineer and had to be at work to manage radio towers for a local radio station (KGON), he would wear his nomex racing gloves on cold mornings.  He also drove an MGB-GT on studded snows up into the hills around the Portland Metro area.

Oh and my RS has a heated steering wheel and seats.  Pretty nice, but I'm ok wearing my nomex driving gloves on cold mornings if necessary.

Its officially 7 days until vacation in Maui, so all this cold talk makes my heart all warm....

Grizz said:

I'm eh on heated seats because I like the cold enough that I wear shorts year round, but I will say the testicle vent needs to make a comeback.


Nothing screams luxury on a summer day like chilled air blasting at my boys.

You need to try cooled seats. Top 'o the line Fords have them... at least in the trucks/suvs. They are A...MAZ...ING.

I use a BMW seat as my office chair. I may need to see about hooking up the heated part

Driving with my son this week he asked what does RPM stand for.  After a discussion and disbelief that the engine in my truck could spin 600 times per second I matted it.  Then he stated that his seat got really warm when I did that.  Of course I asked if he peed his pants.  Turns out the extreme thrust of running through a couple of gears pushed him back in his seat hard enough to transfer more heat.

Oh and I am also enjoying my heated steering wheel, if it gets to hot I wear gloves for protection.

Heated seats can be a benefit for someone with back problems. My wife loves her heated seats in her Sonata and it was a requirement when we bought the car. She has lower back issues and it helps relieve some of the aches from sitting and driving. A guy at work drives BMW's because the seat heaters go all the way up. He broke his back in 28 places in a helicopter crash. Seat heater going all the way up is a requirement for him, his injury is mid back. As for me, admit I'm getting spoiled in my old age. Heated seats are nice with leather. I prefer cloth seats and don't really need butt-warmers with cloth. I think leather is cold in the winter and hot & sticky in the summer, cloth just isn't. 

As someone stated. Cooled seats are the bomb in the summer.

I thought they were silly too until i bought my “loaded” nissan frontier, now they are mandatory. And i rented a chrystler 300 loaded that had cooled seats. That will also be a box to check off on future vehicles too. I have a pretty wrecked lower back(few herniated discs, few bulged) and wow what a difference. Mine almost always stays on low which is nice, not too hot but you know its working, and gets switched to high for colder days or when my back is stinging me. 

Ive had a few people say they though they had pee’d themselves once the heat came on and they weren't used to it.  

Heated seats are a take-it-or-leave it thing for me. My torso is naturally well-insulated from decades of overeating, but my extremities still get cold, so the SHO's heated steering wheel is awfully nice. But cooled seats, once you've had them, are essential in the summer. I will not own another DD without them. They are a game-changer, IMO.

One thing I do use the heated seats for is if I'm bringing home carryout. I put the bag in the passengers seat and turn on the heater to help keep the food warm. 

akylekoz said:

Driving with my son this week he asked what does RPM stand for.  After a discussion and disbelief that the engine in my truck could spin 600 times per second I matted it.  

36,000 RPM.  Dang!