My 2014 Speed has a new issue with the seat warmers (driver and passenger). When the car is cold, garage gets down around 40 F here in MD, the seat warmers don't function. After starting the car you can turn on both warmers and the switches light and show 3 bars, but shut off after 3-5 seconds. Happens with both seats. However, after the car has been running and started to warm up they both function without issue. To add another wrinkle, I haven't been able to nail down the conditions that create the problem. While I am convinced it is a temperature driven issue, I haven't yet confirmed the temp below which the problem appears. Because, as I mentioned previously, when the car is warm enough they both function as normal. No faults or error codes are displayed. Any thoughts or suggestions would be most appreciated.

 

Living in FL, seat warming isn't an issue but I'm guessing - not based on any knowledge or expertise - that until the car has warmed up enough to provide heat, the system shuts off so as not to blow cold air and shrivel your tutus.

 

Hello All

Just so we are all on the same page, does the 2014 use the vented seat blower as part of heating with the electric heating element in the seat linings, I would think not, as the blower was just for cooling (venting, non refrigerant) via perforated seats, and the heating is just electric heating elements in the seat linings, just like a heating pad, as the diagram for the 2011-18 seat shows, there is no ducting from the HVAC system to either seats, so the warming up of the HVAC system seems unlikely, and would 100% defeat the purpose of heated seats upon entering the vehicle.

@EJag66 ,
Is there any possibility that this is related to a power level issue, I understand that you start the engine, but what are the battery levels (volts), is the vehicle on a tender, do any other items fail to work ?

Johnny

 

That'll teach me to make an uninformed guess!

 

@BruceR ,
Absolutely nothing wrong with you previous comment, it's the comments that get us all thinking and searching.

Thank you !

Johnny

 

Johnny, Interesting idea. Would certainly explain the randomness of the issue, why it seems to happen more often as it gets colder, and corrects itself after the car has been running for awhile. The only other issue I noticed was the random fuel cap warning. Since I assume these are the original batteries, I should probably look there first.

 

Johnny,
Initial reports suggest you were correct. Since I have started using the battery tender, neither the seat nor the gas cap issue has returned. Thanks!

 

Glad to hear @EJag66 !

Johnny