Weak heated seat?

[Kon]

I was driving a base model Ioniq while my car was in the shop last week and that seat would be too hot for comfort after 5 minutes. In my Genesis, the heated seat barely feels like it's on even after 20 minutes on the max setting. It seems strange that a bottom-tier economy car would have a better heated seat then their top-of-the-line luxury car. Maybe it's because the Ioniq had cloth seats?

I have no idea how to convey this in an objective way, so I'm guessing the dealer will probably just say "it's working" or "we can't replicate the issue" if I bring it in for service.

In any case, how would you describe your heated seats? Are they strong or weak compared to other cars you've been in?

 

[arcman]

Sounds like it may have an issue. Did you try the passenger seat for similar results? My 2015 Ult. seats take maybe five minutes or so to get uncomfortably warm on setting three and I back it off to one.

 

[EdP]

I was driving a base model Ioniq while my car was in the shop last week and that seat would be too hot for comfort after 5 minutes. In my Genesis, the heated seat barely feels like it's on even after 20 minutes on the max setting. It seems strange that a bottom-tier economy car would have a better heated seat then their top-of-the-line luxury car. Maybe it's because the Ioniq had cloth seats?

I have no idea how to convey this in an objective way, so I'm guessing the dealer will probably just say "it's working" or "we can't replicate the issue" if I bring it in for service.

In any case, how would you describe your heated seats? Are they strong or weak compared to other cars you've been in?

At least as strong as any car I've had, especially the back. After 10 minutes I always turn it down, if not off.

I wonder if you can measure the surface temperature with an IR thermometer for the sake of comparison.

 

[Suburbazine]

If it's underperforming then the Peltier module is burnt out. It probably doesn't work so great in cooling mode either.

A fully functional module will toast and freeze you quite well.

 

[NC356]

From the peanut gallery:
Do our seats circulate heated or cooled air via a fan?
Is there an air filter?

 

[Jamesalanb]

my driver seat on high (16 ultimate) will literally singe ass hairs. I have it on high for like 3 minutes to warm up on the coldest days, otherwise it's always 2 pushes to get to medium, which I find comfortable.

 

[surprisinguy]

High is too hot after a few minutes

 

[Kon]

Thanks for all the replies, sounds like there's definitely something wrong with my driver seat so it looks like I'll be back at the dealership again.

At least as strong as any car I've had, especially the back. After 10 minutes I always turn it down, if not off.

I wonder if you can measure the surface temperature with an IR thermometer for the sake of comparison.

That's a good suggestion. I wonder if the $35 thermometers on Amazon are accurate enough... might have to give one a shot.

 

[EdP]

Thanks for all the replies, sounds like there's definitely something wrong with my driver seat so it looks like I'll be back at the dealership again.

That's a good suggestion. I wonder if the $35 thermometers on Amazon are accurate enough... might have to give one a shot.

I use one in the kitchen and the like and it works well enough. You should be able to at lease get a reading for differential of the driver and passenger seat.

 

[Kon]

I use one in the kitchen and the like and it works well enough. You should be able to at lease get a reading for differential of the driver and passenger seat.

Yeah, I just wonder if I'll need to stack something heavy on each seat to make it an accurate test. I'm assuming there wouldn't be much heat transfer to the surface of the leather if there's nothing in the seat, but maybe they're supposed to work regardless of weight...

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[carguy75]

I was driving a base model Ioniq while my car was in the shop last week and that seat would be too hot for comfort after 5 minutes. In my Genesis, the heated seat barely feels like it's on even after 20 minutes on the max setting. It seems strange that a bottom-tier economy car would have a better heated seat then their top-of-the-line luxury car. Maybe it's because the Ioniq had cloth seats?

I have no idea how to convey this in an objective way, so I'm guessing the dealer will probably just say "it's working" or "we can't replicate the issue" if I bring it in for service.

In any case, how would you describe your heated seats? Are they strong or weak compared to other cars you've been in?

My heated driver seat burns my bottom on the high setting after about several minutes and is still warm on the lowest setting. The seat heating settings are perfectly executed for me as I do not want my bottom cooked after a few minutes but gradually warmed until I decide that my butt is warm enough and turn it off. I am usually comfortable with about 10 minutes of driving even if the car was very cold from the start after sitting all night in a cold parking garage at my job. Remote starting would cut the warm up time in half if I had it activated.

 

[Suburbazine]

From the peanut gallery:
Do our seats circulate heated or cooled air via a fan?
Is there an air filter?

If it's an Ultimate they circulate heated / cooled air over a 175 watt Peltier-effect exchanger which allows them to be independent of the vehicle's hvac system. They only have the barest of screen filters to keep fingers out.

 

[need4spd]

Actually the signature model and up circulate heated/cooled air over the Peltier-effect exchanger (any of the models with cooled seats).

Only the base does not have cooled seats.

 

[Kon]

Can you guys hear your heated seats?

The cabin is so quiet that they're the loudest thing if I'm going slow and listening to something like talk radio. At first I thought it was the rear air conditioning vent...

 

[EdP]

Can you guys hear your heated seats?

The cabin is so quiet that they're the loudest thing if I'm going slow and listening to something like talk radio. At first I thought it was the rear air conditioning vent...

Nope, but now I'll go out of my way to listen.

 

[Monkey]

Can you guys hear your heated seats?

The cabin is so quiet that they're the loudest thing if I'm going slow and listening to something like talk radio. At first I thought it was the rear air conditioning vent...

Yes it took me awhile to figure out what was on also.

 

[Chad86tsi]

I only hear it on the passenger seat, not the drivers. Probably just as loud, but the position of my ears to the source and the acoustics of not having a body over the seat are likely the reason for that. I tend to keep the dash fan pretty low too so there isn't much sound in the cabin.

 

[need4spd]

While you can hear the fans on the heated/cooled seats, they are not as loud as they are on other cars out there. A friend who is the service manager for Acura was saying how quiet they are on the Genny, that all the acuras on high setting are crazy loud and he then demo'd it was crazy how loud they were, something to think about next car I get to check them out first. I have also heard them on other cars a lot louder than ours

The base seats I believe are heating elements (no fans) so those are extra quiet LOL

 

[kocyk123]

My seats also take little longer to heat up but nothing out of ordinary. Yes, these are fan heated(all that come with vented seats) which might affect the warm up time. If you want your seats to get hot quick, start up your car, switch seat heating to on and do not seat on the seat for the next two minutes. Lol I wish bluelink allowed you to trigger the seat heating remotely....