How warm do the seats get from the seat heater. Can you drive for an extended period of time and leave it on hi(drivers seat). My old car got so warm on hi that i couldnt leave it on that long. I am wondering if the element is going because I can have it on hi for at least 45 min and its never gets so warm that ii need to turn it down to low or off. I have tried my passenger heater and the seat stays stone cold. Does the seat have to have someone sitting in it (sensor) for the heater to to work? Just making sure I am not missing anything before i waste time going to the dealer.

 

my seat gets hot! i cant sit in it, and i have to turn it off.

 

Mine will get fairly warm then shut off and maybe an hour later it gets warm again. It's done this since it was brand new. I think many TLs have this issue. I never had it looked at because it doesn't get that cold here. Mine still works to this day and it gets warm quick but never as warm as most other cars do and then there's the randomness of it all.

I believe you have to have a person in either seat for it to work. I tried turning the driver's side heater on before I got in the car and it was stone cold 5 minutes later but warmed up quickly once I got in it.

 

I think your heaters are probably operating normally. From the owner's manual, pg. 96:

"In HI, the heater turns off when the
seat gets warm, and turns back on
after the seat’s temperature drops. It
continues to cycle as long as you
leave it set on HI."

"Because of the sensors for the side
airbag system, there is no heater in
the passenger’s seat-back."

No, you don't need anyone in the seat for the heaters to work, but if you leave it in high, it may be between cycles when you sit down. In the winter, I always set my seat heat to LOW before leaving the car. I'll use the remote start and then I have a warm car and warm seat.

 

Well it looks like the passenger seat warmer doesnt work then from what you guys say though I am not sure if the drivers side heater is heating up enough but I will take it in in either event.

 

Have you actually sat in the passenger seat for at least 5 minutes with the switch on LOW and the engine running? You will only feel heat in the seat area, not the back.

The fuse is #15 in the under dash fusebox...but if the switch lights come on, the fuse is good.

 

My heaters absolutely won't work if there's no one in the seat. I can turn it on for a while then sit down and it takes the normal amount of time to warm up.

 

Don't know what to tell you. Have you tried it in LOW and given it at least 10 minutes?

Mine work fine (using LOW) with no one in the seat. I never really had them on without being in the seat until I got my remote start installed. At first, I had the switch on HI and I noticed when I got to the car (10-15 minutes after remote start), sometimes the seat was not very warm, other times it was cooking. Then I read the owner's manual and realized that when set to HI, the seat heat was cycling on and off. So now I set it on LOW and it usually is on at least 10 minutes before I get to the car.

 

Well I know the passenger seat is not heating without anyone sitting in it (on for 45 mn at least stone cold) so, I guess I will have to sit in it later and try to see if i feel it getting warm.

 

i am with IHC, my seats have never ever ever ever been warm while warming up the car if I am not in them. they are just as cold as they were when I started, but warm up a little after sitting down.

 

 

Hmmm....There is no tie-in between the SRS sensors and the seat heater circuits. It's a straight on/off electrical circuit. The heater relay is closed when car is started, providing power to the seat heater switches.

1. Maybe a difference in 04 and 06 seat heater design/specs? Doubt it.

2. Maybe color makes a difference?? (parchment for me).

3. Maybe the efforts to combat the "butt print" problems in the 04-05 models changed the seat material/design enough to make a difference?

4. Maybe the below zero ND temperatures make it easier to feel the heat?

 

It states specifically in the manual that high is just to be used to get the seats up to temp then they need to be switched to low to keep them at a constant temperature. It comes on whether someone is sitting in the seat or not, your body just helps to trap the heat in the seat which warms them up quicker.

 

I have found my seat warmers to be close to useless (and I live in Chicago):
- It takes forever before they actually warm up.
- As IHC pointed out, it seems that if I go out to warm up the car and flip on the warmer onto high, it really doesn't warm up much. It's as if I have to be sitting in it for it to warm up. It does warm up a little, just not much.
- Once it finally does warm up, it quickly becomes too hot. Definitely too hot when on High. Still too hot even on low.

As a result, I hardly ever use them.

What I really wish I had were seat coolers.

 

If you read the owner's manual for heated seats, you'll seen that it says your suppose to turn it on hi at first and let it get real hot and then when its super hot your suppose to switch it to low to keep the seat heated all the time.

If you leave it on hi all the time without switching over to the low it says in the manual that the heating element shuts off when it reaches a certain temperature and then will come on again when the seat gets cold enough. If you want heat on your constantly while driving you need to switch over to low, if not your going to get heat on and off while leaving it on hi!

 

Yeah I noticed the heated seats in our cars are kinda weak. The heated seats in my girlfriend's SX4 will burn your ass in 2 minutes flat. I also think the whole not being warm right away after warming the car has to do with you not sitting in the seat pressing the heating element with the rest of the seat to transfer the heat to the surface. It is almost as if there is a layer of air or foam between the element and the surface which insulates when not compressed or under load. Once I sit in the seat i can feel the heat penetrating to the surface.

 

WOW i didnt know that....but i did notice when my seat starts getting a little cooler and the switch is on HIGH, then i throw it to LOW and then back to HIGH in 2-5 minutes and my seat gets really HOt....

 

On is on, doesn't matter if someone is in the seat or not

 

This is exactly what I was going to say...problem solved

 

let me clarify the book a bit:
the heater system looks like a home bed electric blanket with a very thin wire run thru a fabric cover in a pattern back and forth a few inches apart

on HIGH the heater wire is supplied full power until it reaches a temp OVERLIMIT cutoff- then its shuts off until below a min allowed by the switch and goes back on full

This is hard on the leather seat cover, and tends to add wear to wire assembly under the cover- right where a mans wallet would be--breaks a wire--common failure on gen2.
$3 diy fix or $500 at dealer!!

so you warm yourself for maybe 5 minutes- butt warmed, then go to LOW

on LOW it has a thermostat type switch so it will go on and off in a very narrow range,
-keeping you toasty... not burnt toast,
and giving itself and the electrical system a break now and then

Your owner book may specify not to run both seats on High at idle- the draw is too much for the alternator at idle, and will draw power from battery that needs to be replaced by driving above 1500 rpm, where the alt. is putting out good amps and will recharge for all the things on,,headlights, heater fan, heated seats, stereo--it adds up fast to big amps

 

the heater pad is directly under the leather seat cover--not covered by foam
see gen2 diy for pics and more info

 

Well then both my heater are shot I know once hot it cycles but my drivers heater never gets that hot that i have to turn it down to low and the passenger seat does not wrk at all so time to get them fixed before the warranty expires. I dont want ot hear we cant duplicate or someone has to be sitting in the seat for them to work prior to taking it in

 

Even when sitting in the seat with the heat on high, it takes five minutes or so before I feel it.

 

It's really strange about how varied the seat heaters appear to be. For me, I can't leave it on high long enough for it to cycle...it gets too damn hot!!

 

I just want to make you aware of something but the passenger front seat only heats up on the butt portion you know right? The back of the seat does not heat up like the driver front seat does!

 

Yeah I know already. Thanks as I said thought my seat can stay on high all the time and with no one sitting in the passenger seat its cold, so there have been varied views on if someone has to be sitting in the seat for the warmer to work that is not addressed in the manual

Thanks though

 

Well if that is the case then you definitely have something wrong with your seat heater! I hope your not out of warranty if not head to your Acura dealer!

 

That's exactly how mine is. It will be stone cold for 10 minutes until someone sits in it. I've tried applying light pressure just in case the leather is not making contact with the heater and it makes no difference.

On the driver's side, same thing. If it were a gap between the heater and leather you would think that by sitting on it with the already hot heater you have have heat in just a few seconds. However, mine takes as long as always even if it's been on for a few minutes.