I am a very big fan of ventilated (cooled, even better) seats. If you have ever been in a hot car in the summer and had the luxury of ventilated seats, you know what I mean. I've heard that Acura has seen fit to include them in Canadian RL's. I hope next year they will see fit to include them in USA RL's. You know, the USA, which is further south and hotter than Canada??

 

Haha! I find that incredibly funny! Although it does get very hot here in the summer, it's only a few months. If they included them here, it makes NO sense not to include them in the US!

 

I think HONDA LEGEND in JAPAN has it

 

The feature is AWESOME! I was really hoping the TL would have them. I cannot believe the US RL does not.

You can get them for sub 40k in the Saab 9-5 and Ford Expedition Eddie Bauer.

 

i doubt there will be ventilated seats next year, probably very minor changes for the 2006 model year.

 

Why not? It sounds like a pretty minor change to me.

 

I wonder if there is a way to buy the parts and retrofit the existing seats. If the entire seat needs to be replaced, that would be cost prohibitive, but if the parts can be fitted to a US seat, iit might be worth the effort for me-my black leather gets pretty toasty here in Lala land. ANyone have a line on a Canadian spec RL parts list? Maybe we could get Ray Laks to source the parts from Canada for us-there were a few Volvo dealers that did that for those of us that wanted to add Euro goodies to our US spec 850s.

 

The heated/cooled seats that we got up here in Canada was a trade off for not getting XM radio and ONstar(I can't begin to understand the thought process that goes into deciding which market gets which optional goodies for extras). It is ironic that they would add them to the Canadian RL but not the US version considering our climate. They work great and definitely make long drives on a hot day more comfortable. It's funny how everybody who tries the cooled seats has the same initial reaction of, "Gee, they don't really do much" and then a couple of minutes later, "hey cool, these things really work".

 

I'm farther south than some parts of the U.S. and I guarantee it is warmer here year round than those parts of the U.S. Cnada isn't an igloo contrary to what many Yanks think. It doesnt snow here year round and it gets bloody hot here in the summer.

Hey you live in NY right? I bet on avg my temp here in Ontario is warmer than where you are.

It is odd the U.S. RL didn't get cooled seats though.

 

If we got venitlated seats in place of the sat radio and onstar then I am glad because I wouldn't use those two services after the first free year. Onstar is borderline US...IMO that is. As for XM, I don't think they have a license here in Canada. When they do it would be simple to add a sat radio box to our cars....a lil bit harder to add the ventilated seat function so I am happy for our trade-off

As for the RL's seats...they work ok but I wish they were truly cooled like those in the LS430

 

Tried one on a M35 on a hot summer day. It was wierd in the beginning to be honest. I am not used to feel a few cold needle like air threads up my thighs and butt. Turned if off after the seats were not so hot. This is one option I can live without.

 

Yes, XM is actually not legal to broadcast in Canada because there is a law that says you cannot broadcast unless you have X% of Canadian content...I'm not sure how high it has to be, but that's the rule.

 

does any of our fellow canucks have pics of the cooled seats? is the air vented from the bottom and the top of the seats??

 

Canada having ventilated seats vs USA getting XM does not make sense. Honda is usually at the cutting edge of technology.

I think it is a US patent issue. GM, Toyota, Mercedes and BMW paid for the rights to use the technology.

My car sits in a hot parking lot all day and my back sweats even with the AC on full. I am currently shopping for a car with ventilated seats.