Steering Wheel Heater & Seat Heater suck

So I finally tried the seat heater and steering wheel heater several days ago, since it was pretty cold outside, and I'm really disappointed with the results.

The steering wheel heater worked great ... for 10 minutes or so, then the steering wheel became ice cold like the rest of the car, and would not heat up again. I tried turning the switch off and on again (tried twice, first time with a 5 second pause, second time 5 minutes), but no go. I'm guessing it's a thermostat issue, but I'm really hoping that my system is defective, as I find it hard to believe that this is normal.

The seat heaters aren't as warm as my Prius Plug-in, and they seem to stop heating just as fast as the steering wheel, but eventually come back on for a minute or so.


I couldn't find more than 1 or 2 posts complaining about the system, so I'm hoping someone else can confirm this is normal.

Doesn't match my experience at all. Got my Leaf last December and loved the heated steering wheel. It cycles on and off but I had no trouble resetting it with the switch if I wanted more. By spring it was too hot to leave on, would just use it at outset to warm it up.

My seat heater is usually too warm for me too, I'll start on high, but switch to low pretty quick on all but the coldest days.

So, I don't think yours is normal, unless they made some change to the '13s. Get it checked out.

I've only used those heaters a few times so far.

I agree that the steering wheel one cycles off too fast. I've had mixed results trying to re-activate it with the on/off switch.

On the other hand, no complaints at all with the seat heater.

It would be nice if the Steering wheel heater had better thermostatic control.
Something a little more linear, instead of OFF - ON - COLD -BBQ cycles.

I find that the leather seats are not as hot as the cloth since the air cannot pass through.

Still, they are OK.

They recalled my 2011 Audi because somebody had a seat heater fire, and now the things are USELESS.
Wife cant stop bitching about them.
Maybe I can find a European control module that will heat them back up?

Well Toyota got that one right in the Prius Plug-in, not sure what the big deal is :/

I'll have to do some more testing once the weather gets colder again, I'm really hoping it's a defect, but not looking good so far :/

Agreed about the steering wheel heater. In very cold weather I wish I could just leave it on. Or alternately, have it cycle at a higher frequency so it doesn't start to feel cold to the touch.

But I think the seat heaters are great. I've never noticed them cycling off like the steering wheel heater. When set on high, they'll often become too warm for me after several minutes. So either they changed something on the 13's, or yours may be defective.

Maybe it's related to the leather seats? I've never had them, but maybe the same seat heaters at the same settings just dont feel as warm as on the cloth.

Agree, it would be nice if we had more control over the steering wheel heater.

I only had a few weeks of cold weather after getting my Leaf in April. The steeringwheel and heated seats worked well for me. I felt they were a little too hot; however I am a warm blooded person by nature so... I generate plenty of my own heat it seems so when I add heat I get 'too hot' quickly.

Take it into the dealer to see if something is wrong imo.

I have yet to try mine, as I got my car at the end of July. I'll be very curious to see what I think of them and if I can get used to them. I have never liked heated seats, found it a very weird sensation. I've had several cars with them, and even on the coldest winter morning, I never used them. I realize that it's a huge battery saver, so I'll give it a try with the LEAF. Just hoping I can cope with them. Otherwise, I'll just be happy commuting in a cold car. I'm very warm blooded anyway, I sweat really easily, so I actually don't mind having the car cool. The only thing that gets cold are my hands, so I'll definitely give the heated wheel a go. My wife loves heated seats, so I'm sure she'll use it anytime she drives the car.

I wonder how much power it would take to have the seats ventilated or cooled? I rented a Cadillac a few years back that had cooled seats. Ooooh, I could get used to that.

I wonder. . .

Could the steering wheel's thermostat be jumped out somehow, so that using the switch would control it? Probably would still have to deal with whatever timer is the circuit.

just my 2 cents, last winter when i preheated the cabin, having the seats on low was perfect with the fabric seats 2012.

I agree that the freezing/roasting cycle of the steering heat is annoying but the in between times it's reallllly nice. It should cycle. If it won't cycle tha'ts a problem.

I have terrible circulation, so I'm used to wearing fairly bulky Winter gloves in cold weather. I find that the glove do a good job of modulating the "roast & freeze" cycles of the wheel heater. It's a lot harder to operate the button controls, though...

First time running the heat last night in our '13 SV and the seat/steering wheel heaters worked great. Was in the car about a half hour and both stayed toasty. I was also running the cabin heat so maybe that blunted the effect of the steering wheel cycling since the air was warm all around.

Can you all with the hybrid heater begine reporting on the consumption of the heater. More specifically the kw read out the climate control consumes when running the heat on a cold morning.?

I have already heard the heat pumps cooling consumption is higher in summer than the regular system on 11 and 12 models. (which is a real problem)

I would like to see the actual difference between an old style heater and the heat pump in heating mode

I used to have a 2012 Leaf and the energy gauge would peg out at 6kW load when I called for max heat (90 degree setpoint trick), but the last few cool mornings with my 2013 SL, the heat pump seems to max out at 3kW and quickly reduce to 1.5kW.

Ok, now that temps hit low 30's, this is really getting annoying. I did some more testing, and this is really going to ruin my winter if this is a normal experience.

When first turning on the car for the first time in the day, the steering wheel heater heats up, and eventually gets so hot that I could see this being a problem for most people (but I like it, and once I'm wearing gloves, I'm sure I would like it even more).

Once this excess heat event happens, the heater shuts down almost right away (light stays on, no errors). This seems to happen around the 10 minute mark after first starting the car, and the steering wheel will stay ice cold for the next 25 minutes or so until the heater starts up again. I haven't been able to test this any more, since my commute is only around 35 mins.

Both front seats act the same exact way. They take about 5 minutes to heat up (not as warm as my Prius Plug-in seats tho), and 5-10 minutes later, the seats start cooling down. Eventually the seats do warm up again, but nothing like the initial temperature, so really, it's one big disappointment.

I'm guessing that the seats are functioning as designed, since both seats are doing the same exact thing at the same exact time (unless they share a thermostat or something?), and that the steering wheel is a defect, but would love to hear more feedback/opinions!

When first turning on the car for the first time in the day, the steering wheel heater heats up, and eventually gets so hot that I could see this being a problem for most people (but I like it, and once I'm wearing gloves, I'm sure I would like it even more).

Once this excess heat event happens, the heater shuts down almost right away (light stays on, no errors). This seems to happen around the 10 minute mark after first starting the car, and the steering wheel will stay ice cold for the next 25 minutes or so until the heater starts up again.

Click to expand...

No; I believe you have summed the Steering Wheel heater operation pretty well there :roll:

Please see my upcoming posting entitled :

"How to make a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch on your 2012 Leaf steering wheel, but be damn quick about it"

kmp647 said:

Can you all with the hybrid heater begine reporting on the consumption of the heater. More specifically the kw read out the climate control consumes when running the heat on a cold morning.?

I have already heard the heat pumps cooling consumption is higher in summer than the regular system on 11 and 12 models. (which is a real problem)

I would like to see the actual difference between an old style heater and the heat pump in heating mode

Click to expand...

As soon as the weather gets really cold, I'll report in, though I'm sure there are others who will get cold before me. I drove this morning at 4:45am and it was in the mid-40's here. I turned the heater on to 70 degrees. I obviously wasn't staring at my screen, but when glancing I saw it bounce as high as about 1.5 and as low as nearly zero. We'll see what it does when it's below freezing outside.

Add me to the list who agree the steering wheel heater is a joke. I've never used one before, so I was excited to try it. It was 38 degrees outside this morning. The first thing that gets cold on me are my hands, so this was a perfect morning. It heated up quickly and I was really enjoying it. Yes, it got pretty warm. In fact I'd say it was "hot" if I squeezed it hard. I was thrilled. Then about 8-10 minutes later, it went cold. Stayed that way pretty much the rest of my drive, which was another 30 minutes. WTF Nissan?? Could this be a programming glitch effecting all LEAFs? I plan to reach out to Nissan USA today just for poops and giggles to see what they say.

As for the heater, I again had it set at 70 degrees. I saw the climate control reading spike as high as 3.0, then quickly went back down...fluctuated between 0 and 1.5.

You can't really go wrong for $15 for one of these heat pads:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjlWzWUTXFM[/youtube]


($15 Canada Costco price, usually means 12 USD)