Cold Draft with Heated Seats

[MNgen]

Woke up to Minnesota -7 F temps this morning. Good day for remote start! After entering the vehicle and turning on the heated seats, I felt a freezing draft on the back of my calves as I drove. I reached under the seat and sure enough cold air is blowing out from under the seat! After checking to make sure the windows were closed and doors were shut, I turned the heated seats off and the draft stopped. Turn the heated seats on and the cold draft is back. I'm guessing... and I will verify that ventilation is coming from somewhere to keep wiring and circuitry under the seats from overheating. Likely not an issue at warmer temps but truly uncomfortable below zero.
p.s. I love my new Genesis and expected some caveats in this first round of the GenII. I suspect this is one of them.

 

[Schindawg]

Sounds to me like you are running the cooling ventilation function, not the heating function. With the seat heating on, the lights on the seat switch are orange, not blue. If blue, you are running the cool ventilation. Heating works fine on my '15 Ultimate.

 

[Midnightsun]

The heated seats also have forced air ventilation through the seat cushion which works simultaneously when you turn the seat/s on. Sounds like something is disconnected or pierced causing it to blow on your calves and not through the seat. I have been using mine on a regular basis for the last month + and they work very well.

 

[MNgen]

Thank you for your input MidnightSun. I verified again this morning (-2 F) that cold air blows out from under the seat when the Heated seats are turned on. Checked the rear heat vents on the back of the console to make sure they weren't blowing down into the rear foot wells. I'll get the car into a warm garage over the holiday and see whats going on under the seat. Until then... I'm wearing warmer socks!

 

[Schindawg]

The heated seats also have forced air ventilation through the seat cushion...

Did not know this! Thought it was just embedded wires; but hey, that's why I love the forum! Always something to learn!

 

[Midnightsun]

Thank you for your input MidnightSun. I verified again this morning (-2 F) that cold air blows out from under the seat when the Heated seats are turned on. Checked the rear heat vents on the back of the console to make sure they weren't blowing down into the rear foot wells. I'll get the car into a warm garage over the holiday and see whats going on under the seat. Until then... I'm wearing warmer socks!

You can easily compare the passenger side as it works the same way as the drivers side.

 

[putputput]

Seems to support the theory that it's a peltier in the seat. It would be a simple metal plate, one side gets hot one side gets cold. It's reversed by reversing voltage. A fan is used to take away the cold/hot trash. A second fan is used to force the desired stuff thru the seat

 

[Midnightsun]

If it were a peltier we would have cooled seats. What we have is ventilated seats so no peltier. The early Gen 1 did in fact have a peltier however they went ventilated in 2012 I believe.

 

[Midnightsun]

To the OP. I put my hand down near my feet yesterday when the seats were on and low and behold there was a small cool breeze going on. My next question is why in the world would you be in shorts and no socks when it'd sub zero outside as there is no way you could feel this slight breeze (very slight) with pants on.

 

[MNgen]

Midnightsun, a better question is why does my new Genesis's heated seats provide the opposite effect for the first 15 minutes of driving on the coldest of cold days? Maybe it's just my Genny that does this? If not, it's a major oversight by Hyundai engineers IMHO.

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[Nikgen]

Midnightsun, a better question is why does my new Genesis's heated seats provide the opposite effect for the first 15 minutes of driving on the coldest of cold days? Maybe it's just my Genny that does this? If not, it's a major oversight by Hyundai engineers IMHO.

Must be something wrong with your car - mine does not exhibit this behaviour...

 

[Midnightsun]

Midnightsun, a better question is why does my new Genesis's heated seats provide the opposite effect for the first 15 minutes of driving on the coldest of cold days? Maybe it's just my Genny that does this? If not, it's a major oversight by Hyundai engineers IMHO.

Coming from a Gen 1 I can tell you the Gen 2 is leaps and bounds ahead when it comes to heating up a cold car. I would put it up there with the quickest of the bunch. As mentioned, your car may have something wrong with it.

 

[putputput]

If it were a peltier we would have cooled seats. What we have is ventilated seats so no peltier. The early Gen 1 did in fact have a peltier however they went ventilated in 2012 I believe.

I'm pretty sure the seats are cooled. The high setting is too cold for my ass. After 5 mins i have to put it on low

 

[Midnightsun]

I'm pretty sure the seats are cooled. The high setting is too cold for my ass. After 5 mins i have to put it on low

According to the website and brochure they are "ventilated" however their brochure and website is/was plagued with errors so who knows.

 

[Alwaysforward]

The manual calls them Seat Warmers & Coolers. My guess is that they are run by the AC system blowing cold air, not just cabin air. I agree with what was stated above, they will freeze your buns for sure.

 

[MNgen]

That explains a lot. The 3 way switch controls the seat fan not the temperature! Mine's not blowing through the seat very well (or at all) and instead is ventilating a frozen seat frame into the foot well. Thank you for your post! I need to RFM.

 

[ckon]

I noticed this am at 9 degrees that the heater doesn't really blow a lot of heated air into the footwells. There's plenty of hot air, but most of it is directed up instead of down even when the footwell is selected. Maybe not the same problem, but not helping to alleviate it, either. It hasn't been noticeable until the temps dropped so low, but the heat distribution system doesn't seem to be optimally designed - it's probably the poorest functioning feature on the car.

 

[Midnightsun]

I noticed this am at 9 degrees that the heater doesn't really blow a lot of heated air into the footwells. There's plenty of hot air, but most of it is directed up instead of down even when the footwell is selected. Maybe not the same problem, but not helping to alleviate it, either. It hasn't been noticeable until the temps dropped so low, but the heat distribution system doesn't seem to be optimally designed - it's probably the poorest functioning feature on the car.

Well I certainly have no issue and I will get back to you tomorrow morning when it hits -30 here. Tha car has an auto defrost feature so maybe it is directing heat to the windows which will eventually be redirected to the footwells. If you want it only at the feet all the time you may need to select manual and choose the footwell option however your windows may start to fog up. I left the office today and it was -22 so a little nippy however I was toasty in the car.

By the way, the AWD is simply great.

 

[ckon]

Well I certainly have no issue and I will get back to you tomorrow morning when it hits -30 here. Tha car has an auto defrost feature so maybe it is directing heat to the windows which will eventually be redirected to the footwells. If you want it only at the feet all the time you may need to select manual and choose the footwell option however your windows may start to fog up. I left the office today and it was -22 so a little nippy however I was toasty in the car.

By the way, the AWD is simply great.

Agree on the AWD.

I had the heater selected for footwell only and it was still not particularly warm - a lot of hot air up high though. I'm getting an oil change Friday and maybe I'll have them check the air distribution.

 

[MNgen]

Mine is the same way. You can't manually set heat to the floor area when it's very cold out. I think it has something to do with the auto defrost which needs to be turned off or disabled.