Heated Steering Wheel Temp

[OCD Solutions]

By stock the seats have low\medium\high but steering wheel is on or off. I'm not sure how it could realate to.

Once again, I was able to activate the three setting options with AlfaOBD so I now have Hi/Med/Lo settings for my steering wheel. If it has a temp controller and feedback sensor then it has control beyond the basic on/off, even if that's all that appears in the interface. Easy enough to change the setpoint within the controller to match the seat settings.
Hi = 120F
Med = 100F
Lo = 85F

I'd be curious if there are different controllers for different models and model years since users are reporting different observations. Or does it all come down to different settings within the same module.?.?.?

 

[Darksteel165]

Doing some reading on the subject and I found an old thread where some owners observed that the temp of their wheel followed the temp setting of the seats.
I'll have to test this theory now but it may not work for me if I've already changed factory settings.
Originally the setting was set to "default" and I changed it to the 3 settings so I may have to change it back to test properly.

Again

By stock the seats have low\medium\high but steering wheel is on or off. I'm not sure how it could realate to.
There are steering wheel "types" and I assume output different heat. My Limited comes\was set to leather\wood wrapped, and based upon my build sheet that is correct, despite it not having ANY "wood" on it.

The heated steering wheel works fine when the heated seats are never turned on also.

Once again, I was able to activate the three setting options with AlfaOBD so I now have Hi/Med/Lo settings for my steering wheel. If it has a temp controller and feedback sensor then it has control beyond the basic on/off, even if that's all that appears in the interface. Easy enough to change the setpoint within the controller to match the seat settings.
Hi = 120F
Med = 100F
Lo = 85F

I'd be curious if there are different controllers for different models and model years since users are reporting different observations. Or does it all come down to different settings within the same module.?.?.?

I just answered your question above. There are different steering wheel types under heat settings. The new Limited that is all leather is marked as wood\leather, but on the build sheet it is referenced as wood so it is the correct setting. There are 2-3 other options to choose from.

The temp of your seat has 0 to do with the steering wheel as the seats have 3 settings, and the wheel only has one as stated above.

You can not change the temperature in the ways above that you would want to.
You can change the steering wheel type to affect the heat. Someone with a thermal camera can change it and check the temps. I do not own a thermal camera.

 

[RockJock]

I've had the same thoughts before that maybe the wheel temp follows outside air temp or heated seat setpoint.

Last week it was -10 outside. Now it's in the low 30s. My heated steering wheel felt like it was at the same temperature throughout the 40 degree outside air temp span.

I normally run my heated seat on high. I cycled through the seat levels and didn't notice the wheel changing temperature. Maybe others that have experienced different levels of wheel heat have a failing component or some coincidence? Or maybe the "high" setting on my wheel failed somehow and mine is now on the low setting that would correspond to the seat on low. I wouldn't know the difference since 99% of the time I have my seat on high. That could explain why I'm getting the same low temperature readings across the entire wheel. But, like Darksteel said, the heated wheel works even if the seats are off.

Back in 2019 I test drove a new Limited and that steering wheel was HOT. Too hot. Test drove a different truck and it was perfect, just like mine was until recently.

I'm not sure. Just throwing a bunch of thoughts out there. All I know for certain is the last couple weeks the wheel isn't as hot as it used to be.

I'm taking my truck in to get this diagnosed tomorrow. I'm going to ask them about different levels of heat and try to get the temperature specs.

 

[Andymax]

I was able to activate a med setting in my truck using AlfaOBD. Now I have lo-Med-Hi. If it was an option, I would have just set it to lo/med because hot is always just too damn hot.

so, just to be clear...I can use AlfaOBD to switch from simple ON/OFF to Hi/Med/Lo similar to the heated seat settings? Do you recall where in the AlfaOBD settings it is?

 

[HSKR R/T]

I was able to activate a med setting in my truck using AlfaOBD. Now I have lo-Med-Hi. If it was an option, I would have just set it to lo/med because hot is always just too damn hot.

It is an option to have just hi/low on steering wheel

 

[HSKR R/T]

I enabled the three settings too.
They are hot, hot and hot.

I can't tell any differences between the settings.

It only stays on for about 15 minutes before my hands start to blister and leave chunks of flesh seared to the steering wheel.

I've had the same thoughts before that maybe the wheel temp follows outside air temp or heated seat setpoint.

Last week it was -10 outside. Now it's in the low 30s. My heated steering wheel felt like it was at the same temperature throughout the 40 degree outside air temp span.

I normally run my heated seat on high. I cycled through the seat levels and didn't notice the wheel changing temperature. Maybe others that have experienced different levels of wheel heat have a failing component or some coincidence? Or maybe the "high" setting on my wheel failed somehow and mine is now on the low setting that would correspond to the seat on low. I wouldn't know the difference since 99% of the time I have my seat on high. That could explain why I'm getting the same low temperature readings across the entire wheel. But, like Darksteel said, the heated wheel works even if the seats are off.

Back in 2019 I test drove a new Limited and that steering wheel was HOT. Too hot. Test drove a different truck and it was perfect, just like mine was until recently.

I'm not sure. Just throwing a bunch of thoughts out there. All I know for certain is the last couple weeks the wheel isn't as hot as it used to be.

I'm taking my truck in to get this diagnosed tomorrow. I'm going to ask them about different levels of heat and try to get the temperature specs.

With alfaObd you can change the type of steering wheel you have as well as enable hi/med/low, or just high/low setting for steering wheel. From factory my all leather steering wheel was set to wood/leather in settings. Switched to just all leather and the temps weren't nearly as hot. Then enabled the hi/med/low setting, but mostly just use low.

Also, just like the seats, the steering wheel does get hotter when first turned on, then drops temp. This is to get the temps up when they are cold, so when it drops down it's not still trying to warm up cold materials.

 

[cskindt]

 

[mcat79]

I did a test today and enabled the high/med/low option and started at low and event moved to high. I used the OBD module to measure the wheel temp. It stayed around 93 for all settings. It was 40 degrees outside.

 

[HSKR R/T]

I did a test today and enabled the high/med/low option and started at low and event moved to high. I used the OBD module to measure the wheel temp. It stayed around 93 for all settings. It was 40 degrees outside.

High is the first setting, low is third push. There is a significant difference on my truck between high and low settings.

 

[Brutal_HO]

I enabled the three settings too.
They are hot, hot and hot.

I can't tell any differences between the settings.

It only stays on for about 15 minutes before my hands start to blister and leave chunks of flesh seared to the steering wheel.

I experienced the same effect on my HD when I enabled the lo/med/hi option. The icon also doesn't change between them like it does for the seats and I had to open it from the apps screen to turn it off.

 

[HSKR R/T]

I experienced the same effect on my HD when I enabled the lo/med/hi option. The icon also doesn't change between them like it does for the seats and I had to open it from the apps screen to turn it off.

No, the icon itself does change. First push is hot and you will get the three waves in icon and indicator at top of display. Second push is medium. Icon stays with three waves, but indication at top of display goes away. Third push is low, icon stays the same. Fourth push is off and red waves turn off.

I have my bottom bar set up with heated seat and heated steering wheel icons, so I don't have to go into the controls screen to make changes.

 

[mcat79]

Since I didn’t notice a difference and the icon not changing is a bit annoying I tried to reset back to default in Alfaobd, but I still have the 4x press on the heated wheel button. Anyone else experience this?

 

[cskindt]

Since I didn’t notice a difference and the icon not changing is a bit annoying I tried to reset back to default in Alfaobd, but I still have the 4x press on the heated wheel button. Anyone else experience this?

It sounds like you still have the High/Med/Low/Off level option enabled.

 

[HSKR R/T]

Since I didn’t notice a difference and the icon not changing is a bit annoying I tried to reset back to default in Alfaobd, but I still have the 4x press on the heated wheel button. Anyone else experience this?

Did you check and change steering wheel type?

 

[Darksteel165]

No, the icon itself does change. First push is hot and you will get the three waves in icon and indicator at top of display. Second push is medium. Icon stays with three waves, but indication at top of display goes away. Third push is low, icon stays the same. Fourth push is off and red waves turn off.

I have my bottom bar set up with heated seat and heated steering wheel icons, so I don't have to go into the controls screen to make changes.

I think it's differnet on UC5.
Mine shows the waves\same thing on all 3 settings.
The last second feels not as hot as the first setting, still scorching.

 

[HSKR R/T]

I think it's differnet on UC5.
Mine shows the waves\same thing on all 3 settings.
The last second feels not as hot as the first setting, still scorching.

If you haven't changed the steering wheel type, i.e. wood/leather, all leather, ...than you need to change that as well to match what your steering wheel actually is. I feel if it's set to wood/leather it gets too hot because it's trying to heat up the wood.

 

[Darksteel165]

If you haven't changed the steering wheel type, i.e. wood/leather, all leather, ...than you need to change that as well to match what your steering wheel actually is. I feel if it's set to wood/leather it gets too hot because it's trying to heat up the wood.

My steering wheel doesn't have wood, but the build sheet claims it does so I never changed it as in theory it is correct per the spec.
I wonder if having it set as wood\leather was a legacy option for the Limited's of prior years.

I may try changing it to just leather but honestly I don't use the heated steering wheel much. Maybe for the first 5 minutes so it's not frigid, then I just turn it off and let it be room temp.

 

[Jimmy07]

My steering wheel doesn't have wood, but the build sheet claims it does so I never changed it as in theory it is correct per the spec.
I wonder if having it set as wood\leather was a legacy option for the Limited's of prior years.

I may try changing it to just leather but honestly I don't use the heated steering wheel much. Maybe for the first 5 minutes so it's not frigid, then I just turn it off and let it be room temp.

Your limited doesn’t have this steering wheel?

 

[Brutal_HO]

Since I didn’t notice a difference and the icon not changing is a bit annoying I tried to reset back to default in Alfaobd, but I still have the 4x press on the heated wheel button. Anyone else experience this?

I did but haven't had time to look at it. Seems to only bug me when I have to use it. LOL

 

[mcat79]

Did you check and change steering wheel type?

I did change it from the default wood/leather to all leather but I changed that back too.