Heated Seats vs Heated Steering wheel in 2016 SL

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Notacop

Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2018
Messages
8
Now that we have had our first cooler weather since I bought my car I noticed something. The heated steering wheel gets HOT in just a couple minutes. The heated seats, however, are barely noticeable. Has anybody else noticed weak heaters in the seats? The lights on the switches work fine and my wife says she can feel a difference between off and on, but they are nothing like the heated seats I have had in other cars.
 
Notacop said:
Now that we have had our first cooler weather since I bought my car I noticed something. The heated steering wheel gets HOT in just a couple minutes. The heated seats, however, are barely noticeable. Has anybody else noticed weak heaters in the seats? The lights on the switches work fine and my wife says she can feel a difference between off and on, but they are nothing like the heated seats I have had in other cars.

They are generally adequate on Low and quite warm on High. Either you have insensitive skin or your heated seats have an issue. The crappy wheel thermostat, BTW, is typical for a Leaf.
 
I start with the seats on high until I feel them, then flip them to low. I so wish the steering wheel had a low setting, the part that is really annoying is it gets hotter and hotter then shuts off for 5 minutes until it is freezing. I tend to manually flip the steering while heater on and off to avoid it hitting the over temp cutout.
 
My impression is that the seat heaters have trouble being felt through the leather seats that you're stuck with on a 2016 SL. The heaters that were in my 2012SL's cloth seats worked GREAT, and had next to no delay between when they were switched ON and when they took effect. Also, I never had to run them on High. In the 2016, I often had to do as BrockWI describes and run them on High for quite awhile just in order to feel anything.
 
BrockWI said:
I start with the seats on high until I feel them, then flip them to low.

Is it just me, or if you put the seat heat on High, then it gets nice and toasty... but then, right when you're saying "ahhh, yes!", it shuts itself off. Then you're saying "aaah! where'd the heat go?" I do what BrockWI suggests: let it get hot, then flip it to Low, so the heater doesn't shut off.
 
Levenkay said:
My impression is that the seat heaters have trouble being felt through the leather seats that you're stuck with on a 2016 SL. The heaters that were in my 2012SL's cloth seats worked GREAT, and had next to no delay between when they were switched ON and when they took effect. Also, I never had to run them on High. In the 2016, I often had to do as BrockWI describes and run them on High for quite awhile just in order to feel anything.

I have a 2018 SL with ##@$! leather seats, and the seat heaters work fine - including on Low - through both the leather and the cheap seat covers I have over it.
 
LeftieBiker said:
I have a 2018 SL with ##@$! leather seats, and the seat heaters work fine

Interesting. I had assumed that the seats had a thermal shutoff, and once mine got "hot," they shut themselves down. Mine's a '17.
 
specialgreen said:
LeftieBiker said:
I have a 2018 SL with ##@$! leather seats, and the seat heaters work fine

Interesting. I had assumed that the seats had a thermal shutoff, and once mine got "hot," they shut themselves down. Mine's a '17.

I'm sure that mine also have a thermal shutoff, but I never use high, because just as with my 2013 SV the seats are plenty warm on Low - again, with thin cloth seat covers over the leather.
 
BrockWI said:
I so wish the steering wheel had a low setting, the part that is really annoying is it gets hotter and hotter then shuts off for 5 minutes until it is freezing. I tend to manually flip the steering wheel heater on and off to avoid it hitting the over temp cutout.
I find "driving" gloves make the steering wheel's temperature excursions more bearable.
 
Notacop said:
Now that we have had our first cooler weather since I bought my car I noticed something. The heated steering wheel gets HOT in just a couple minutes. The heated seats, however, are barely noticeable. Has anybody else noticed weak heaters in the seats? The lights on the switches work fine and my wife says she can feel a difference between off and on, but they are nothing like the heated seats I have had in other cars.

Lucky you.

I have 2018 where steering wheel heater gets luke warm and stays that way. I loved the HOT my 2016 had. As far as heat seater? Mine is same as 2016. Its all about what you are wearing.

I see this all the time with other EVers and as soon as I mention this its like the light in the room has been turned on.

In gassers since we have 75% of the energy in gasoline to warm our ass, we tend to dress lightly which means we feel the seat heater a lot better.

In EVs we tend to dress warmer which means thicker clothes so we don't feel the seat heater as much. If you think yours is not working, wait till July and then test it.
 
A year later and I'm still having the same issue.

With the seat heater on high I can't really tell if it even on. Every once in a while I get a slight sensation of warmth but not very warm and not for long.

It's not what I'm wearing because it happens even in thinner khakis. Every other car I have owned running the seats on high would heat up strongly and quickly. I've always had to turn them to lower settings to avoid being warmer than I find comfortable.

In my leaf I have left the heater on high even after the weather takes a warm turn because I don't feel a difference.
 
LeftieBiker said:
You must have either a bad switch, bad ground or power connection, or a bad heating element.

I plan on getting out my multi-meter and measuring the current draw on low and on high. Do you have any idea what the current or wattage of the seats should be? My meter also has a hookup for a temperature probe. I will probably order the probe itself so I can talk actual numbers, "The wheel heats to XXX degrees", "The seat never gets above XXX degrees" etc.

I'd like to troubleshoot as much as possible myself. It is hard to get it into the dealer with my work schedule and distance from the dealership.
 
I don't know the current/wattage offhand. My guess is that on high the draw should be between 10 and 20 amps on High, depending on how many front seats are on. If you have rear seat heaters, I suggest you leave those Off to test.
 
The seat and steering wheel heaters on not ON all the time.... Don't expect constant heat from those things.

They heat up and then cool down in a circular pattern. Otherwise people would be suing for getting burns and things.
 
I had Heated Seats in my 2015 S with the Cold Weather Package
The Heated Seats Worked Great With The Fabric seats
And When the Steering Wheel Was to Hot I turned it off
And cycled it Off and on when Needed
I now Have a 2019 Loaded SL Every Option Except Pro Pilot Park
Which I'm Not Sure Is available Here in the USA
I have Leather Seats Now And I Can Barely Feel the Heated Seats on High
And I am 6"5" i think the leather seats are uncomfortable the fabric seats felt better for me
and that darn Console juts out into my Right Leg The Old console for me was much Better
And had more space for things and a bigger compartment with lid
The Heated steering on the 2019 SL does not get as hot as my 2015 did its just gets warm not hot
2019 model has a better ride and feels heavier but there is to many gadgets on it and to many buttons to push
I miss the 2015 it was simple to drive and use just a easier car without all the gadgets
And i like the look better it reminded me of a Austin Healey Bugeye Sprite i used to own 45 ago the new 2019
Really has not a lot of styling appeal and looks like a lot of other cars especially the front end
these are my views I wanted another S but there are so few available with winter and charging packages
at the time i was looking this past august i went with the SL because they gave me a good deal on it
they wanted to move it i not a tech person and My SL is very tech orientated oh well just my 2 cents
 
we bought a Plus S and added heated seats, they work really well..... the Plus S was discounted at the end of September so we got a good deal. How about those heated seat covers over leather?
 
powersurge said:
The seat and steering wheel heaters on not ON all the time.... Don't expect constant heat from those things.

They heat up and then cool down in a circular pattern. Otherwise people would be suing for getting burns and things.

I'd argue that people would be less litigious if the heat was maintained at a proper comfortable level rather than cycling between "OUCH THAT'S TOO DAMN HOT" and "OFF".
 
Are you a Lawyer? These Messages are just Observations not law suits Right?
Im Not sure i understand the meaning of litigious in this conversation about Heated Seats And Steering Wheels
The Fact Is The Steering Wheel Does Get Very Hot And i only used it in very cold weather under 20 Degrees
in the Northeast in the winter along with the heated seats to keep warm with the heater off since it Sucks
Down Voltage As soon as yo turn it on the voltage Drops by 15 volts and in the cold weather you don't get
a Great charge the volts go quick when its cold so your range is very limited i drove my 2015 in 4 winters so
i had to be mindful of where i was going since around these parts there are not any many places to charge
i always charged at home with my 220 nissan charger i bought used on e bay for $150.00 From A Guy In
Florida who had a 2 year lease on his car and had bought the charger for home charging for $1000.00
From the Dealer At the time in 2013 for his early Model Leaf
Fabric Seats with Heat Excellent Just the right amount of heat
Leather Seats With Heat Not As Good Luke warm I imagine because of the leather thickness
2015 Heated Steering Wheel Can get Very Hot but managable
2019 Heated Steering Wheel Not Hot Just Warm just right
these are my experiences only
i do not speak for any one else
The Ride And Lack of wind noise are better on the 2019
And the extra Battery range is nice but in the cold weather
It still loses 10 volts when you turn on the hybrid heater
In September a full charge Meaning all the Charging lights off on the dash would show 176 miles
Now in November A full charge all the charging lights off shows 157 miles
at the time i just could not see the extra 5 k for A Plus Model And the dealers kept the prices high
Limited availability Was there answer and a higher demand than the stock model
thats all signing off
 
Our 2016 SL seats do OK but never burn me for sure and I love them in leather. If the sun is shining I sometimes turn off the steering wheel heater but generally my arthritis feels better when it is too hot for comfort on cold days.

There are times when it cycles off I can't wait until it starts burning me again. :)

I love the heat pump for sure over the hot water systems that are so slow on cold mornings.
 
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