Heated seats not very warm.

[go-ram]

My 2020 Laramie Longhorn (leather) seat heaters work well for me, but so far only down to the low 40s F. They aren't super-fast at heating up, maybe 5 minutes, but as for me, that's preferable. I don't want that much roasting power under my buns. I always turn from high to low after about 15 minutes. I can feel the heat on my lower back, which is much appreciated.

 

[AAR#2]

2020 Rebel, Leather, 12” screen controls

Currently have seat warmers (certainly not heaters)

Considering I live in AZ I don’t have many occasions for using them but a bum back as I age would sure appreciate them working. With such a wide spread problem by more than a few on this forum one would think Ram would have a better lock on cause, solution and proper function. What this thread confirms for me is they do not.

Considering dealerships claim things are as expected, is it possible that Ram intentionally designed the heat range lower? Maybe for leather? Maybe the result of something used in the seat padding? (Trying to give them an out that the performance is known and not the result of an engineering oversight)

One earlier post suggested the seat temps were to be;
Low -95F, Med- 100.4F, High -109.4F
I have yet to see anyone from Ram or a certified Ram tech confirm these numbers, but would be interested in knowing. Additionally are these temps to be expected on all seat materials?

A scan with a thermal gun suggests my leather after 10 min on high with a 50 degree day warms both seats to levels about 15 degrees below the low setting mentioned above, I can’t get close to the low of 95F

If this is Ram by design, they have sorely missed the mark, as set by seat heating on all other brands for several decades.

 

[c3k]

^^^

I'm curious about those temperatures, as well. I posted some pix upstream of the temperature of my SEATING SURFACE. Maybe these temps refer to the maximum temperature of the HEAT COIL?

If you've ever taken apart a seat heater and looked at them, the wires are very thin. Something on the order of 22-24 gauge, or finer. (That way they heat up with lower current more than a thicker wire would need.)

I have not been in sub-zero temps with my truck yet. But, having complained about what I perceived as low temps on my seat, the more I use them, the more I've found that 1 bar is fine. I'll start with 3 bar, and drop it to 1 bar within about 10 minutes or so.

My dream? I'm in arctic-like cold and I come out to my truck, frozen in a block of frozen precip, the cold air slicing into my lungs with each breath. I climb into the seat and start it up (which it does right away ): yeah, it's freezing inside the cab. One push of the ol' three-bar seat heater, and in about 30 seconds I'm cocooned in warmth from the bottom and back of the seat. Oh, -23F outside? And the truck sat all night? Huh. Getting a bit warm from the seat, may have to crack a window...

 

[AAR#2]

Temp at the wire, interesting idea but unsure how the dealer would validate without disassembling the seat.

The ranges I mentioned earlier appear odd when you see XX.X (temp range with a decimal?), as with anything manufactured there is always a tolerance, and are those temps referenced a min, max, or average? Again, odd to me no one has been able to confirm what temperature they SHOULD be checking at the seat surface or the dealer test to confirm they are “working properly”

 

[jmt8706]

2020 Rebel, Leather, 12” screen controls

Currently have seat warmers (certainly not heaters)

Considering I live in AZ I don’t have many occasions for using them but a bum back as I age would sure appreciate them working. With such a wide spread problem by more than a few on this forum one would think Ram would have a better lock on cause, solution and proper function. What this thread confirms for me is they do not.

Considering dealerships claim things are as expected, is it possible that Ram intentionally designed the heat range lower? Maybe for leather? Maybe the result of something used in the seat padding? (Trying to give them an out that the performance is known and not the result of an engineering oversight)

One earlier post suggested the seat temps were to be;
Low -95F, Med- 100.4F, High -109.4F
I have yet to see anyone from Ram or a certified Ram tech confirm these numbers, but would be interested in knowing. Additionally are these temps to be expected on all seat materials?

A scan with a thermal gun suggests my leather after 10 min on high with a 50 degree day warms both seats to levels about 15 degrees below the low setting mentioned above, I can’t get close to the low of 95F

If this is Ram by design, they have sorely missed the mark, as set by seat heating on all other brands for several decades.

Keep in mind, the seat temps you listed may be of the coil as someone stated. The heat of the coil may be that temp that you posted, but the heat has to go through the seat cushion, as well at whatever fabric is on top. There will be some heat loss through the material. That is normal.

 

[AAR#2]

Understand the heat loss, don’t understand how a dealer would validate it without a lengthy inspection process. Seems to me they would have a power inspection at the plug and a seat surface temp range. This would be a quick and easy diagnostic

Bottom line is that I expect a 65k truck seat heaters to perform in line with what 20+ years of heated seats provide from various manufacturers. I was recently in Omaha visiting a college kid and his entry level Jetta put my truck seats to shame.

 

[go-ram]

2020 Rebel, Leather, 12” screen controls

Currently have seat warmers (certainly not heaters)

Considering I live in AZ I don’t have many occasions for using them but a bum back as I age would sure appreciate them working. With such a wide spread problem by more than a few on this forum one would think Ram would have a better lock on cause, solution and proper function. What this thread confirms for me is they do not.

Considering dealerships claim things are as expected, is it possible that Ram intentionally designed the heat range lower? Maybe for leather? Maybe the result of something used in the seat padding? (Trying to give them an out that the performance is known and not the result of an engineering oversight)

One earlier post suggested the seat temps were to be;
Low -95F, Med- 100.4F, High -109.4F
I have yet to see anyone from Ram or a certified Ram tech confirm these numbers, but would be interested in knowing. Additionally are these temps to be expected on all seat materials?

A scan with a thermal gun suggests my leather after 10 min on high with a 50 degree day warms both seats to levels about 15 degrees below the low setting mentioned above, I can’t get close to the low of 95F

If this is Ram by design, they have sorely missed the mark, as set by seat heating on all other brands for several decades.

.
Re: "Scan with thermal gun: MANY of the affordable IR thermometers are significantly out-of-calibration, right from the factory - it's not unusual for the cheaper ones to be 5-10 degrees Fahrenheit out of whack. Those instruments should never be accepted as accurate without being cross-checked with either a very expensive IR thermometer that has a genuine, recent, NIST-traceable calibration certificate, or, better yet, checking with another method altogether (for example, a calibrated, thin-wire thermocouple with relatively fast response time). Hell, just whether the vehicle is in the sun or not will make a huge difference in readings, as will the relative sheen of the surface where the IR thermometer is pointed. There are many variables involved that can significantly affect readings.
.
It's silly to get into a specmanship argument with Ram on their seat-warmer performance, especially using a questionable instrument and without knowing the exact test conditions under which Ram does their own testing. And anyone that reports their seat temperature to the nearest tenth of a degree Fahrenheit is just fooling themselves. Seat warmers are crude devices that are just meant to take the edge off the cold and provide a certain amount of added comfort, nothing more.
.

 

[AAR#2]

Can’t honestly say I own any cheap tools, but decided to see what variation I get in a range comparable to what the seats would be, total deviation was 2 degrees between instruments, so a good exercise.

Agree that you can’t charge in and stomp up and down at Ram until the test method and values are known. Seems this is a tight lipped process or we have none of the right folks responding.

That all said these seat warmers are a true disappointment based on the one thing that matters, my body. They are slow to heat and produce only sufficient heat to let one know they aren’t completely broken.

 

[Idahoktm]

2020 Rebel, Leather, 12” screen controls

Currently have seat warmers (certainly not heaters)

Considering I live in AZ I don’t have many occasions for using them but a bum back as I age would sure appreciate them working. With such a wide spread problem by more than a few on this forum one would think Ram would have a better lock on cause, solution and proper function. What this thread confirms for me is they do not.

Considering dealerships claim things are as expected, is it possible that Ram intentionally designed the heat range lower? Maybe for leather? Maybe the result of something used in the seat padding? (Trying to give them an out that the performance is known and not the result of an engineering oversight)

One earlier post suggested the seat temps were to be;
Low -95F, Med- 100.4F, High -109.4F
I have yet to see anyone from Ram or a certified Ram tech confirm these numbers, but would be interested in knowing. Additionally are these temps to be expected on all seat materials?

A scan with a thermal gun suggests my leather after 10 min on high with a 50 degree day warms both seats to levels about 15 degrees below the low setting mentioned above, I can’t get close to the low of 95F

If this is Ram by design, they have sorely missed the mark, as set by seat heating on all other brands for several decades.

If this was "by design" as you put it, all Ram trucks would have weak seat heaters. Obviously they don't.

Based on the information in this thread, it seems that the control module for the seat heaters is the issue. I haven't read a single post where someone said the driver's seat worked fine, but the passenger seat did not or vice versa which would point to a heating element issue.

 

[AAR#2]

Is there a single control module used for both seats or a control module for each seat?

 

[Idahoktm]

Is there a single control module used for both seats or a control module for each seat?

I'm not sure. Someone on this forum has to know.

 

[thelittledoos]

Here is the FCA Tech Connect document with the temps.

 

[NorthStar]

My Big Horn seats get very hot especially when you remote start it and let it sit for a few for the engine to warm up.

Last night it was 32 degrees where and we were going to the kid's house for dinner. She asked me if I had remote started the truck and I stated yes. She asked me to go out and turn off her seat warmer as it is too warm for menopausal a$$. Well, I run out there, take it out of remote start mode and turn her seat warmer off. Being a good husband (and so she doesn't whine), I start fanning her seat with my ball cap. She opens the door to get in, sees me fanning her seat, jumps to conclusions thinking I had passed gas and ask me why I had to do that in the cab of the truck? She yells at me to roll all the windows down as she doesn't want to smell anything when she gets into the truck.

So much for being the dutiful husband...the good thing is the seat warmers on this Big Horn get HOT and the bad news is I will never fan her seat again.

 

[Idahoktm]

My Big Horn seats get very hot especially when you remote start it and let it sit for a few for the engine to warm up.

Last night it was 32 degrees where and we were going to the kid's house for dinner. She asked me if I had remote started the truck and I stated yes. She asked me to go out and turn off her seat warmer as it is too warm for menopausal a$$. Well, I run out there, take it out of remote start mode and turn her seat warmer off. Being a good husband (and so she doesn't whine), I start fanning her seat with my ball cap. She opens the door to get in, sees me fanning her seat, jumps to conclusions thinking I had passed gas and ask me why I had to do that in the cab of the truck? She yells at me to roll all the windows down as she doesn't want to smell anything when she gets into the truck.

So much for being the dutiful husband...the good thing is the seat warmers on this Big Horn get HOT and the bad news is I will never fan her seat again.

A good deed never goes unpunished.

 

[Dookie]

That all said these seat warmers are a true disappointment based on the one thing that matters, my body. They are slow to heat and produce only sufficient heat to let one know they aren’t completely broken.

Understood...so drive naked, check!

 

[Jfrsgarage]

Another 2020 ram here. Owned since 6k miles now at 20k. Drivers "heated" seat has been a joke. My pass seat gets significantly hotter at same setting. Been that way since I purchased it. Pass seat isn't as hot as my wife's Durango seats, but it's still very noticeably warmer then my drivers seat. Using a temp gun like above, the butt cushion driver side is 85 degrees compared to the passengers 100 degrees.

My wife's 18 Durango will nuke your balls its so hot on level 3.

I plan to call my local dealer tomorrow. It's currently 23 degrees here and a heated seat is a requirement for my back.

 

[Bigbags85]

Crazy all the apparent quality control issues with these heated seats. So far the driver's side works fine. At least as good as my other car. I am going to have to check the others now to make sure they work! Currently 10F degrees here.

 

[jmt8706]

My Big Horn seats get very hot especially when you remote start it and let it sit for a few for the engine to warm up.

Last night it was 32 degrees where and we were going to the kid's house for dinner. She asked me if I had remote started the truck and I stated yes. She asked me to go out and turn off her seat warmer as it is too warm for menopausal a$$. Well, I run out there, take it out of remote start mode and turn her seat warmer off. Being a good husband (and so she doesn't whine), I start fanning her seat with my ball cap. She opens the door to get in, sees me fanning her seat, jumps to conclusions thinking I had passed gas and ask me why I had to do that in the cab of the truck? She yells at me to roll all the windows down as she doesn't want to smell anything when she gets into the truck.

So much for being the dutiful husband...the good thing is the seat warmers on this Big Horn get HOT and the bad news is I will never fan her seat again.

Same with my Big Horn. Leaving work in the morning we have been having single digit temps outside. When remote starting, my seats get really hot quick on the high setting. Feels good not having to sit on a 7 degree driver seat.

 

[swing4terps]

Mine are what I would consider weak as well. Nothing scientific, but I can put driver‘s on 3 and drive all about without them getting hot enough to need to turn down. And I’m in MD; it’s typically not less than 35 degrees here. On my old Sierra there was no chance I was making it more than 15mins without needing to reduce the temp.

Can‘t speak for passenger side. Haven’t sat there yet in “seat warmer conditions.“

 

[mbridge1]

2021 Laramie, got the weak seat warmers here as well. Took my daughter to school this morning, which is a 40 minute round trip. I turned both driver and passenger seat warmers on high and measured them with an IR thermometer gun when I got back. Highest I got was 95 degrees on both seats.