I have test driven three different TL’s and all of them seemed to have heated seats that either didn’t work or were so weak that it was hard to tell if they were working at all. In all cases it was both the drivers and passenger seats and the lights were working on the switch. My wife has a BMW X5 and her seats get so hot I need to turn them off after a few min. Do the third generation TL’s have more than usual problem with the heated seats or did I just get unlucky?

 

Sorry to hear. You probably got unlucky, as they say. I've never had a problem in mine.

 

Both of my butt cushion heated seats seem to have stopped working, only the drivers back seat seems to work. Thankfully, I have an extended warranty!

 

I've been noticing that the temperature climate set for the interior plays a role in how hot the seats get.

Both my Pilot and TL seem to work the same.
If I leave the seats on Hi while keeping the cabin temperature at 72. It's mildly warm.
Now if I crank the cabin temp to 78, the seats become extremely hot. All this while keeping the seats on HI.

Hopefully this is the way it should function.

 

$350 for both seat (bottom and back) and about couple hours of your time. Problem fixed.