Hi guys,

Winter is upon us here in the UK... was wondering... for the heated steering wheel to be activated, do I need to do anything? On a very cold morning, I activate the front heated seats, however not found any heat coming from the steering wheel. Am I doing something wrong, or is it another trip to the OPC..?

 

it does not work very well if you ask me.
mine did the same thing and took it to the dealer and they said it is working as it is designed. Was kind of disapointed as on othe makes lik BMWs and MB works 10x better.

i hope you have better luck than I did at the dealership.

 

Agree with Lil Raja. Very disappointed with the heated steering wheel on Cayenne. BMW has a separate switch and worked 100X better.

 

normally, The wheel will heat automatically according to the temperature around. The wheel of my cayenne S works fine and you know Canada is cold in winter. but I have a headache of the turn corning light. 1 week ago, the right one was dead again the third time. anyway, I will trade in it for another one.

 

Do you have the normal leather wheel or a wood/carbon wheel? There's no heating element in the wood/carbon wheels...

 

No you dont have to do anything. I believe when the outside temperature drops below 57*F it automatically heats the steering wheel

 

I think it has to do with the interior temp of the car being below a certain temperature. Obviously the outside temp has to be low for the interior of the car to be low. With that being said, my heated wheel hasn't really been working lately either and it has been in the 20's here in NY.

 

The heated wheel in the Cayenne is automatic based on interior temperature. You are right it is disapointing. It gets luke warm at best then turns off when it decides you've had enough. I had a heated steering wheel in my Range Rover with a manual switch. Got toasty warm.

 

Mine works well, it warms up the wheel- and that's all I want. I don't know about the rest of you, but if it got any warmer my hands would sweat and it could cause my hands to slip.

 

I agree, the heated steering wheel sucks! Never gets very warm, on-cycle is too short. It should be adjustable within the ecu. Anyone ever tried to mess with that. This is from one of the PDFs my dealer sent me. Too bad it doesn't have an override.

"Steering wheel heat only comes on when the inside temp of vehicle is below 53.6F, then the wheel will heat to 73.4f. Once the inside temp of the vehicle hits 71.6f, the wheel heat shuts off."

 

who drives the car around inside temp below 53.5F? Not me
To me it was a waste of money...

 

"Steering wheel heat only comes on when the inside temp of vehicle is below 53.6F, then the wheel will heat to 73.4f. Once the inside temp of the vehicle hits 71.6f, the wheel heat shuts off."[/quote]

its actually a pretty decent system..i mean bringing the steering wheel to 72*F is pretty nice. tomorrow morning when you hop in your cold car after a lil warm up, and think the steering wheel isnt warm enough, touch your bare hands on the center of the steering wheel (airbag/horn) and see how cold that is?

and to the other question asking who drives their car below 54*, probably no one that wants to, however, when you start your car in teh morning and its only 20*, your interior is just as cold--if not colder. and even if you heat your car up to 80*, it sure takes a while for the steering wheel to not be cold if you dont have it heated.

i learned this last winter when i alternated between my cayenne and my audi a4...which didnt have a heated steering wheel. my 45 minute commutes to work were spent alternating hands on the heater vents b/c my hands were soo cold!! (i dont like wearing gloves while driving)

in conclusion, i think the point of the steering wheel heater is to bring the wheel to a comfortable temperature so that you can hold it w/o freezing your hands off!! theres a difference between that and wanting a steering wheel that will warm your hands up!

 

Mine seems to work well. Actually I kinda wish I had the same option in my Audi.

 

I think it's pretty clear from the replies that each of us like something a little different with the heated wheel. Some want to warm there hands on it. Some just want to take the chill off of it. Some like to drive with gloves. Some (like me) don't like to drive with gloves. That's why I don't like the fact that Porsche has decided for all of us what we like. A simply on/off touch button or a button with two temps would make everyone happy. Heck they let us decide how warm we want our heated seats.

 

Here, here!

And why have the seats in all my Audis taken so long to heat, and how come they never get as warm?

... but then again, it's a heated steering wheel, not a hand warmer.