Heated seats not working properly in 2018 Big Horn

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Dodgetk81

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I highly doubt there is a setting that makes the seats hotter with leather. The only Leather code setting is going to be for the cooled seats so you have the buttons on the uconnect.

The Katskinz are easily twice as thick as the factory leather and have more padding on them. I have played with them both out of the truck. It is simply more insulation between the heaters and your butt that is causing the issue.


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Here is a pic of the settings that Deere Guy had.
 

DeereGuy

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There is definitely a setting and I could tell the difference in the heat when I changed the settings. This setting is in 15+ trucks I believe.

There’s also a setting for the heated wheel material to distinguish between wood and leather options.


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chrisbh17

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So if you have cloth heated seats and set it for non-perforated leather, will they catch fire? :)

I figure the highest power setting would be non-perforated leather, to overcome the lack of holes to let the heat out?
 

BatTruk

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my 2018 rebel is same way...i have the blacked out package and the steering is hot but seats only hot if i fart
 
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Lamarsh

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I personally have a feeling it had something to do with how the seats are"coded" in the bcm. If it's true there is a setting, a big Horn would be set to cloth... You can get heated cloth on the BH, but not heated leather.

I bet if you could change the bcm setting to leather, the seat heating would act differently. I'll be watching this thread because I wanted to add heated seats to my BH. Probably cloth first, then re-covered with a katzkin kit

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Good to know, thanks!

That makes me wonder....are you better off buying cloth seats and a Katzkin kit, or finding a good used set of factory leather seats?

There is definitely a different setting or calibration for the heated sets for cloth and leather. My Big Horn, being manufactured for cloth, is very likely set for cloth, and that is likely the issue. The problem is getting FCA to figure it out, dealing with their customer service has been a mess. They're nice when you get them on the phone, but so far they have done absolutely nothing to help me here. I also have at least 3 separate issues with my electronics, and squeaky breaks. One of the electronic issues FCA customer service acknowledge was a problem, and straight up told me they have no fix for it yet, nor a time frame for when it will be fixed (literally just threw their hands up and told me to go fly a kite). So far I'm disappointed with my new truck. It's even more disappointing since I've been a loyal customer to this company for so long, I always defend them and preach about Ram trucks (and I live in Detroit, so we get into that "Big 3" truck convo often), and now I feel like I've sounded like a fool now that my new Ram is causing me so much grief.

I like my old 2008 Laramie much better, for so many reasons. For Ram to make a truck nearly 10 years newer that has so many problems that simply weren't present on my old truck is shocking. You'd think these little things would get better with time.

I will keep everybody posted as to what happens here.
 

chrisbh17

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Im noticing that as well....they reach out online in forums, etc but in the end they are siding with their dealers no matter what. So, what's the point of reaching out, then? It still ends up being how much the dealer cares and/or is PAID to care. And in the case of warranty-able work, it seems like its just not worth it to them. I imagine there are some dealers that take any problem seriously, but I have yet to find one.

If I might ask - what other electronics issues have you had with your truck? PM is fine if you dont want to get into it here.

-Chris
 

Ricks Ram

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Lamarsh

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View attachment 118240
Here is a pic of the settings that Deere Guy had.

This is great, but what is this from, a computer or tuner? It looks like it is somehow controlling through the BCM? Is this from something you did at home, or can it only be done from a dealership? Thanks for sharing.
 

GLucas

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Here is a video of the same issue I am having.
Over 2 mo ago, I purchased a brand new 2018 RAM1500 - Lone Star V8 HEMI with DEFECTIVE HEATED SEATS on the passenger side that do not work. I have been in and out of 2 different dealerships and working with Chrysler's Engineers for the last 60 days. The drivers side works fine. Passenger side shuts off in under 2mins. The Dealerships and the Engineers claim the system is working as designed. The temperature reaches the 137degF trip point (For Katzkin Leather)on the passenger seat within 2 mins and trips the safety shutdown switch. Yes, thank god the safety shutdown system is working. BUT THE HEATED SEATS DO NOT. There is a factory defect in the programming. The programming for the driver side seat temperature control module does safely regulate the temperature and allow the heated seat feature to function as expected. The programming on the other side is not safely regulating the temperature within the expected operating window, thus causing a runaway temperature spike that is tripping the HIGH TEMP Safety Shutdown system. The end results is the customer is stuck with truck that does not function as promised at time of purchase. My Sales and Service Mgr independently confirmed this DEFECT by testing other new RAM products with the Heated Seats and Wheel Group feature and found the same issue.
 

firemedic10584

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Here is a video of the same issue I am having.
Over 2 mo ago, I purchased a brand new 2018 RAM1500 - Lone Star V8 HEMI with DEFECTIVE HEATED SEATS on the passenger side that do not work. I have been in and out of 2 different dealerships and working with Chrysler's Engineers for the last 60 days. The drivers side works fine. Passenger side shuts off in under 2mins. The Dealerships and the Engineers claim the system is working as designed. The temperature reaches the 137degF trip point (For Katzkin Leather)on the passenger seat within 2 mins and trips the safety shutdown switch. Yes, thank god the safety shutdown system is working. BUT THE HEATED SEATS DO NOT. There is a factory defect in the programming. The programming for the driver side seat temperature control module does safely regulate the temperature and allow the heated seat feature to function as expected. The programming on the other side is not safely regulating the temperature within the expected operating window, thus causing a runaway temperature spike that is tripping the HIGH TEMP Safety Shutdown system. The end results is the customer is stuck with truck that does not function as promised at time of purchase. My Sales and Service Mgr independently confirmed this DEFECT by testing other new RAM products with the Heated Seats and Wheel Group feature and found the same issue.
I too have the same issue!! Also in a 2018 truck. I haven't brought it to the dealer yet because I figure I'll just get the run around. But my issue is identical. The heated seat on the passenger side will shut down to the low setting in just a couple minutes then completely off again within 5-7 minutes. The seats on both sides don't seem to get very warm IMO either.. please update this if you find a resolution.
 

firemedic10584

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Mine did it again this morning. Didn't even cycle from high to low this time, completely turned off after 3 minutes. I'm going to call customer care today and see what they say. I haven't taken mine to my dealer yet because I know they won't be able to fix it.
 

firemedic10584

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Im noticing that as well....they reach out online in forums, etc but in the end they are siding with their dealers no matter what. So, what's the point of reaching out, then? It still ends up being how much the dealer cares and/or is PAID to care. And in the case of warranty-able work, it seems like its just not worth it to them. I imagine there are some dealers that take any problem seriously, but I have yet to find one.

If I might ask - what other electronics issues have you had with your truck? PM is fine if you dont want to get into it here.

-Chris
Chris, I've been having issues with my homelink button also in my 2018. Sometimes it works to open my garage and sometimes it doesn't.
 

firemedic10584

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Here's a video showing mine doing the same thing. Passenger side heated seat is completely off in less than 3 minutes.

 

UpInSm0kE

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Chris, I've been having issues with my homelink button also in my 2018. Sometimes it works to open my garage and sometimes it doesn't.

Crazy, I just bought my 18 1500 Big Horn ED last week and I too have the Homelink issue intermittently working. I have cleared and re-trained my garage door openers 3-4 times now trying to get it to work. My driver seat is the one that cycles to low and wont stay on HI and they are definitely not as warm as my 2015 Ram 2500 6.7 Tradesman that I transplanted Big Horn cloth heated seats into.
 

firemedic10584

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Crazy, I just bought my 18 1500 Big Horn ED last week and I too have the Homelink issue intermittently working. I have cleared and re-trained my garage door openers 3-4 times now trying to get it to work. My driver seat is the one that cycles to low and wont stay on HI and they are definitely not as warm as my 2015 Ram 2500 6.7 Tradesman that I transplanted Big Horn cloth heated seats into.
Have you chimed in on my thread regarding lemon law and heated seats not working properly?
 

reborn55

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Does anyone know what temperature the seats should get---my 2017 laramie with leather heated seats don't get very warm had the truck running for over 10 minutes today--shot the seats with lazer heat gun--88 degrees maximum---not even body temp--drove it about 50 miles last week and couldn't tell they were on
 

JoshR104

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Does anyone know what temperature the seats should get---my 2017 laramie with leather heated seats don't get very warm had the truck running for over 10 minutes today--shot the seats with lazer heat gun--88 degrees maximum---not even body temp--drove it about 50 miles last week and couldn't tell they were on

They dont get super hot but that sounds close to right depending on where you live and temperature outside today. Its 32 out here with the sun... You have to figure with you sitting on them and trapping the heat in they would be slightly warmer.
 

Spindrifter

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I just got a 2018 Ram 1500 Big Horn, hemi, with Katzkin leather seats. The heated seats really do not work well at all. They take about 10-15 minutes to barely even feel. I contacted one dealership about it and the service guy said that's just how they are, and that if they get hot at some point they are working, and that they have no software changes on them yet and can do nothing about it. Being that it is my opinion (and I think I'm right) that the whole point of heated seats is the heat the seats before the truck warms up, I just cannot see how these seats are functioning properly since they don't heat up for 10+ minutes of driving. They also barely work at all if I do auto start--when I do auto start the heated seats and steering wheel turn on, but when I get in the car even with it running on auto start for 10+ minutes my seat is barely hot at all (it is warm, but so luke warm I can't even tell if it's from the heat coming from the vents or the seat heating element), but the heated steering wheel works fine, that heats up right away.

Very disappointed. My 10 year old 2008 Ram 1500 heated seats work just fine, after 10 years.

Any input on this is greatly appreciated.


I have the same problem with my 2018 Ram 2500 with Katzkin leather seats. I can barely feel the heated seats but the steering wheel is plenty warm. My old heated seats would cook you good...
 

mtnrider

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Does anyone know what temperature the seats should get---my 2017 laramie with leather heated seats don't get very warm had the truck running for over 10 minutes today--shot the seats with lazer heat gun--88 degrees maximum---not even body temp--drove it about 50 miles last week and couldn't tell they were on

I have the same problem with my 2018 Ram 2500 with Katzkin leather seats. I can barely feel the heated seats but the steering wheel is plenty warm. My old heated seats would cook you good...

In response to the temp, 88 is about right. They seem to hover somewhere around 90 give or take. BUT, like mentioned about there are variables. Outside temp, your body type and weight, type of clothing worn. Some people absorb more heat then others. What might be cold to you could be hot to someone else.
With that said I have found that measuring them with a infrared device with no weight on the seat probably isn't a super accurate number. The heat isn't really "soaking" through the material as well as it does when you actually sit on it and put some weight down on the element.

Spindrifter, did you have cloth seats before? I went from cloth to Katzkin leather and I didn't notice a huge difference (if any) but It may take a little longer to get up to temp based on the material being leather and much thicker then the cloth
With that said, there are settings in the BCM for what type of heated seats you have. Cloth, Base Leather, and perf leather. Using the AlphaOBD tool I was able to change mine to leather and I "think" it gets hot a little quicker but it's really hard to tell. I tried to test the 3 different material setting types but it's so hard to do a controlled test were all variables are the same to get definitive measurements.


I think part of we all see is in thanks to our current "it's not my fault" "take no responsibility" generation we have. Manufacturers are going to err on the side of caution so they don't risk a lawsuit because someone burnt their bum or it caused an accident. You know, the whole suing because my coffee was to hot and I burnt my mouth type of thing.


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