Heated seats not very warm.

[NorthStar]

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.

95 degrees sound pretty good...are you looking to warm your buns or cook your eggs?

 

[Threesuns1]

Question. Does a 2020 Big Horn with heated seats have heat in the seat backs as well? I drove my sons 2020 BH the other day and had to try the heated seats. I never sat on heated seats before, the seat got nice and warm, but I couldn't feel any heat in the seat back.

 

[mbridge1]

95 degrees sound pretty good...are you looking to warm your buns or cook your eggs?

That's a valid point. Last time I rode in a vehicle with seat warmers was 20 years ago, and I remember them nearly burning you they got so hot on high. Maybe as I've gotten older I'm gotten more colder natured as well.

 

[Biga]

My Bighorn has the opposite problem, they get to hot after about 10 minutes on low at which point I have to turn it off. My 2014 Ram had seat warmers that worked really well not to hot or cold.

 

[vandersnoot]

I have a '21 Rebel (leather) and the driver seat definitely doesn't get as hot as my '12 Ram 2500. I always run it on high. The steering wheel however does get hot, which I like.

 

[n8zcc]

95 degrees sound pretty good...are you looking to warm your buns or cook your eggs?

95 degrees is barely above skin temperature.

 

[NorthStar]

95 degrees is barely above skin temperature.

Perhaps you might want to read the following as heated seats have an SAE standard thus one could utilize the info to “enlighten” their local Ram dealer (it appears 105F could be the upper limit):

Seat Heaters Still Too Hot | Maring Williams Law Office

Despite a well-established threshold, some automakers are still designing seat heaters to work in ranges that exceed it.

www.maringlaw.com

 

[tdager]

My Bighorn has the opposite problem, they get to hot after about 10 minutes on low at which point I have to turn it off. My 2014 Ram had seat warmers that worked really well not to hot or cold.

Same with my Limited. It will make you sweat!

 

[n8zcc]

Perhaps you might want to read the following as heated seats have an SAE standard thus one could utilize the info to “enlighten” their local Ram dealer (it appears 105F could be the upper limit):

Seat Heaters Still Too Hot | Maring Williams Law Office

Despite a well-established threshold, some automakers are still designing seat heaters to work in ranges that exceed it.

www.maringlaw.com

Unfortunitly, I don't have access to SAE standards so I couldn't see what the recommendations are. The blog you referenced suggests pig skin will burn at 111 degrees F but no mention was noted regarding seat covering or the type of clothing being worn by a seat occupant or how/where the temperature was measured. The blog does point out that 109.4 degrees F should be the maximum temperature which aligns with the Chrysler specification from post #72 below.

I didn't see any reference on how or where the seat temperature should be measured.

In post #72 of this thread, there is an image of what appears to be a Chrysler specification of the seat temperatures for the three levels. What is listed here aligns with my wife's Equinox but not with either of my two RAMs. I was hoping the 2022 once I (or if I) get it, works close to the recomendation.

Both of my current RAMs take at least 30 minutes or longer before any warming is felt. In contrast, my wife's Equinox you can feel heat is less than 5 minutes on cold days, like this morning when ambiant temperatures were 11 degrees F.

My RAM service department, when I complained about the seat temperature, used an infrared thermometer
and recorded a seating surface temperature of 74.6 degrees F (they actually wrote that on my work order) afer 30 minutes and told me the heated seat was working as specified. My protests ended in me being fustrated.

 

[NorthStar]

Unfortunitly, I don't have access to SAE standards so I couldn't see what the recommendations are. The blog you referenced suggests pig skin will burn at 111 degrees F but no mention was noted regarding seat covering or the type of clothing being worn by a seat occupant or how/where the temperature was measured. The blog does point out that 109.4 degrees F should be the maximum temperature which aligns with the Chrysler specification from post #72 below.

I didn't see any reference on how or where the seat temperature should be measured.

In post #72 of this thread, there is an image of what appears to be a Chrysler specification of the seat temperatures for the three levels. What is listed here aligns with my wife's Equinox but not with either of my two RAMs. I was hoping the 2022 once I (or if I) get it, works close to the recomendation.

Both of my current RAMs take at least 30 minutes or longer before any warming is felt. In contrast, my wife's Equinox you can feel heat is less than 5 minutes on cold days, like this morning when ambiant temperatures were 11 degrees F.

My RAM service department, when I complained about the seat temperature, used an infrared thermometer
and recorded a seating surface temperature of 74.6 degrees F (they actually wrote that on my work order) afer 30 minutes and told me the heated seat was working as specified. My protests ended in me being fustrated.

View attachment 116556

Wow! 74.6 seems very low. I’d recommend a second opinion from another dealer.

 

[c3k]

Unfortunitly, I don't have access to SAE standards so I couldn't see what the recommendations are. The blog you referenced suggests pig skin will burn at 111 degrees F but no mention was noted regarding seat covering or the type of clothing being worn by a seat occupant or how/where the temperature was measured. The blog does point out that 109.4 degrees F should be the maximum temperature which aligns with the Chrysler specification from post #72 below.

I didn't see any reference on how or where the seat temperature should be measured.

In post #72 of this thread, there is an image of what appears to be a Chrysler specification of the seat temperatures for the three levels. What is listed here aligns with my wife's Equinox but not with either of my two RAMs. I was hoping the 2022 once I (or if I) get it, works close to the recomendation.

Both of my current RAMs take at least 30 minutes or longer before any warming is felt. In contrast, my wife's Equinox you can feel heat is less than 5 minutes on cold days, like this morning when ambiant temperatures were 11 degrees F.

My RAM service department, when I complained about the seat temperature, used an infrared thermometer
and recorded a seating surface temperature of 74.6 degrees F (they actually wrote that on my work order) afer 30 minutes and told me the heated seat was working as specified. My protests ended in me being fustrated.

View attachment 116556

A random thought... These seat heaters are just heated wire coils. Someone with better electrical circuit knowledge than I have could probably come up with a simple mod to get more current through them to create more heat. Obviously, there'd be a limit, since a burning seat cushion, although solving the "slow heat" issue, would perhaps cause more problems.

But, seriously: looking at the the circuit and the hardware, it can't be THAT hard to mod it for more heat. (Says the guy with extremely limited electrical knowledge.)

 

[Shawn19]

I’ve noticed mine get weaker over the past two months. On the 3hour trip home from the dealer I had to turn It down, it was really warm. Now I barely notice it’s on, seat and wheel. It’s warmer than outside when I start it and let it run in the morning…but does not get “hot” anymore.

Not sure I’d go to the dealer over it though.

 

[NorthStar]

Unfortunitly, I don't have access to SAE standards so I couldn't see what the recommendations are. The blog you referenced suggests pig skin will burn at 111 degrees F but no mention was noted regarding seat covering or the type of clothing being worn by a seat occupant or how/where the temperature was measured. The blog does point out that 109.4 degrees F should be the maximum temperature which aligns with the Chrysler specification from post #72 below.

I didn't see any reference on how or where the seat temperature should be measured.

In post #72 of this thread, there is an image of what appears to be a Chrysler specification of the seat temperatures for the three levels. What is listed here aligns with my wife's Equinox but not with either of my two RAMs. I was hoping the 2022 once I (or if I) get it, works close to the recomendation.

Both of my current RAMs take at least 30 minutes or longer before any warming is felt. In contrast, my wife's Equinox you can feel heat is less than 5 minutes on cold days, like this morning when ambiant temperatures were 11 degrees F.

My RAM service department, when I complained about the seat temperature, used an infrared thermometer
and recorded a seating surface temperature of 74.6 degrees F (they actually wrote that on my work order) afer 30 minutes and told me the heated seat was working as specified. My protests ended in me being fustrated.

View attachment 116556

Another thought…leather seats on your Longhorn could impact the amount of heat transfer versus my cloth seats. Even the leather Laramie seats of my daughter are not as warm as my cloth Big Horn seats.

 

[Idahoktm]

Another thought…leather seats on your Longhorn could impact the amount of heat transfer versus my cloth seats. Even the leather Laramie seats of my daughter are not as warm as my cloth Big Horn seats.

I don't think that's it. My Laramie seats get so hot, I can't keep them on for more than 5-10 minutes after I jump in my cold soaked truck. Similar for my wife's leather seats, although I can keep hers on on the low setting the entire time I'm in her car.

 

[n8zcc]

I don't think that's it. My Laramie seats get so hot, I can't keep them on for more than 5-10 minutes after I jump in my cold soaked truck. Similar for my wife's leather seats, although I can keep hers on on the low setting the entire time I'm in her car.

My Laramie is a MY2013 and this is the vehicle that I complained about to the dealer regarding the heated seat functionality. As far back as 2013 in the various RAM forums, the heated seat issue has been batted around with the same type of responses seen here, some will call out "but roasting" while others barely "feel heat". I realize there is some subjectivity to how one feels heat but I don't believe the subjective variance is as great as the posted comments of temperature extremes. As I recall, the but roasting comments came primarily from folks with cloth seating surfaces.

Right now I have a 2013 Laramie 1500 and a 2015 Longhorn 3500. The seating surface in the Longhorn is very different than the Laramie as most of us know but I do not feel any difference in seat heating between the trucks. I can tell you this, the rear seat heating on both trucks work very well while the two front seats don't. Also, on my two trucks, the heated function has two levels and not three like in the newer models.

I dug into this as far as I could go with the info available to me. There is a module under the drivers' seat that controls the heating of all seats and the steering wheel. It is also the one that turns on heating based on ambient temperature if the feature is selected. The same module also controls seat and memory settings. There is no user interface to this module, I even tried AlfaODBII.

I did this test a few times with identical results. On a cold morning, temperature below 20 degrees F, I went out to the truck, placed the FOB inside, started the engine. The automatic seat and steering wheel heating indicators lited. I pushed the seat heater button for the passenger seat and also both back seats. After ten minutes, the steering wheel was warm and warmth could be felt in both back sets but the front seats were like sitting on ice.

 

[Dookie]

In AlfaOBD they have a few things that can be altered in this area
Memory: Heated Seat Material Type
Options are:
Default
Base Leather
Perforated Leather
Cloth
Currently, in my Laramie, it is set at: Default (My seats are leather with perforated inserts)

Memory: Heated Wheel Material Type
Options are:
Wood/Leather
Full Leather
The current setting is set at: Wood/Leather ( My wheel doesn't contain any wood anywhere)

While my seats are okay, not great, and wish they would get warmer, the steering wheel gets way too hot. I think I may play with those settings and see if temps change with the material type, I would think they would.

I'll change my seat material to Base Leather and my steering wheel type to Full Leather and see if an appreciable difference is made.

 

[c3k]

In AlfaOBD they have a few things that can be altered in this area
Memory: Heated Seat Material Type
Options are:
Default
Base Leather
Perforated Leather
Cloth
Currently, in my Laramie, it is set at: Default (My seats are leather with perforated inserts)

Memory: Heated Wheel Material Type
Options are:
Wood/Leather
Full Leather
The current setting is set at: Wood/Leather ( My wheel doesn't contain any wood anywhere)

While my seats are okay, not great, and wish they would get warmer, the steering wheel gets way too hot. I think I may play with those settings and see if temps change with the material type, I would think they would.

I'll change my seat material to Base Leather and my steering wheel type to Full Leather and see if an appreciable difference is made.

Great discovery! Let us know...

 

[n8zcc]

In AlfaOBD they have a few things that can be altered in this area
the steering wheel gets way too hot.

I did fool with those seat type settings on my 2013 Laramie but I did not notice any performance changes. I'm anxious to see what you discover. I should have been more clear of what I was looking for in the seat module with ALFA. I was hoping I could find threshold settings/calibration values to manipulate.

You are right, at times (which is a mysterious pattern I can't identify), the steering wheel can get too hot to hold. This happens on both of my trucks. The Laramie is a leather-wrapped steering wheel while the Longhorn is wood/leather. I never fooled with the steering wheel settings in the module.

I've also noticed a seat heating pattern. I would leave for work, about 30 minutes of driving my butt is still cold but I stop for a coffee. I park, go inside and get my drink. After leaving and in a few minutes, my seat warms up nicely and I have to adjust the seat heater to the lower setting. Something about the ignition cycle and the time out of the vehicle changes the operating parameters of the seat heater. This pattern is repeatable and I've seen it in both my 2013 and my 2015.

 

[c3k]

In AlfaOBD they have a few things that can be altered in this area
Memory: Heated Seat Material Type
Options are:
Default
Base Leather
Perforated Leather
Cloth
Currently, in my Laramie, it is set at: Default (My seats are leather with perforated inserts)

Memory: Heated Wheel Material Type
Options are:
Wood/Leather
Full Leather
The current setting is set at: Wood/Leather ( My wheel doesn't contain any wood anywhere)

While my seats are okay, not great, and wish they would get warmer, the steering wheel gets way too hot. I think I may play with those settings and see if temps change with the material type, I would think they would.

I'll change my seat material to Base Leather and my steering wheel type to Full Leather and see if an appreciable difference is made.

^^^

I've got AlfaOBD. In what menu/submenu are these settings found?

(If you don't know offhand, I'll spend some time looking... But, man, there are a LOT of options in AlfaOBD!)

 

[n8zcc]

^^^

I've got AlfaOBD. In what menu/submenu are these settings found?

(If you don't know offhand, I'll spend some time looking... But, man, there are a LOT of options in AlfaOBD!)

Ya, there are a lot of settings. What I initially did when I first got Alfa was to make a copy of my configuration and then used a text editor to search for keywords.

The heated seat types are under Memory Configuration in the body computer;
Memory Configuration:
Memory Adjustable Pedals Present: Set
Tilt/Telescope Steering Present: Not set
Memory Seat Present: Set
Rear Heated Seats Present: Present
Front Vented Seats Present: Present
Heated Steering Wheel Present: Present
Heated Seat Material Type: Perforated Leather
Heated Wheel Material Type: Full Leather