the back portion of the passenger seat does not heat up, only the bottom heats up. both the back and the bottom of the driver seat heat up. i brought the car to the dealer and they said it's supposed to be that way. has something to do with the driverside side airbag. that just sounds wrong. anyone else have this problem ?

 

Its normal. Apparently because of the weight/occupancy sensors in the passenger seat, the back will not heat up, only the seat.

 

thanks

 

Is there a difference between the '04's and '05/6's as the '05/6 has different passenger seat airbag sensors?

 

thats odd. both my seats only have heaters on the seat bottom only. is it supposed to heat the back portion also on the driver seat or not?

 

No idea! I have an '05, and the drivers heats the back and seat, but the passenger is only the seat.

 

The 05/06 have different sensors than the 04, but none of them have heated backs on the passenger seats because of these sensors.

The driver's seat back should heat like the seat bottom when the switch is on if everything is working correctly.

Remember, when the switch is on low it will stay on all the time, but on high it cycles on and off depending on the seat temperature. This is from the 04 owner's manual, but 05/06 should be the same.

 

Since 04 doesn't have passenger airbag cutoff. I wonder how come this is happening to 04?

 

The information I gave is from the 04 owner's manual, and the 04 does have a side air bag sensor in the passenger's seat back. Just not as sophisticated as the ones in the 05/06.

 

Actually, on the '05's, the driver's side seat back does heat up. Page 104 of the '05 manual says, "Both front seats are equipped with seat heaters. The passenger seat only has heaters in the seat bottom because of the side airbag system."

 

on my '04, there is still an "airbag light off", it is just next to the gas gauge. Sometimes it comes on when someone leans forward. Are the sensors really that different then?

 

I was surprised to know from my 06 TL manual that the passenger seat has no heat at the back because of air bag sensors. This is a design flaw although intended. A car with so many sophisticated features should not have this limitation. People like me do care about heat in the back and found this after buying the car. This should be an enhancement for future TLs.

 

So does this apply to all cars with side air bag sensor in their front passenger seat? Like a Toyota or BMW, do their heated front passenger seat only heat up only the seat bottom? Or is this just Acura cutting corners?

 

As far as my knowledge goes, all other cars have passenger back heated. It is typical for only Aura TL.

 

Hi folks - here's a different twist on this issue. It's summer now, and I think the driver side heater on my 2005 TL is stuck in ON/low temp position. Is there a quick way to confirm this before setting up a visit for dealer service? My dealer is an hour and a half away from me....

 

My problem is the driver's seat doesn't get hot enough. I took it to the dealer, they put a new heater and its worse. When they brought me the car, I noticed the A/C was on the lowest temp. setting. When I turned it up, the driver's seat/back started heating up more. Don't know if it was a coincidence. I called the dealer and asked if the climate control system was tied to the seat heater. (Lo temp, less heat - Hi temp, more heat). He said he didn't think so but would check with Acura Techline. Now I wonder if I should ask them to re-install my old heater (its gone by now I'm sure). Or order another one. The CTS gets nice and hot. I have a bad back and even turn it on in the summer.

 

Other Acuras are designed the same way. My father has an '04 TSX and the passenger side butt-warmer is precisely that, a BUTT-warmer. Makes sense that they'd do all their vehicles the same way, I guess, even if it doesn't make sense that it's designed that way in the first place.