Spindrifter
Member
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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Yes, I had cloth and upgraded to the Katzkin leather at the dealer when I bought it. I never did test them with cloth seats though so I don't have a point of reference. Too bad I have an iPhone, looks like AlphaOBD only works on Android phones...