Heated Seats

[Paul Drumheller]

Just bought 2023 1500 tradesman. Have 273 km on it, first tank of gas. Took vehicle out for errands and had running for at least 40 minutes. In that time I noticed my heated seats set to full were barely warming. Material is cloth.
This is my first Ram with factory heated seats. Took to the dealership and after service manager confirmed barely any heat booked an appointment for yesterday.

Tech reported seats operating as designed. Temperatures rising when heated and data changed when buttons are pressed.

There is a Star Case #2308000102 stating the seats do not get as warm as other Chrysler vehicles...

Discussion: Customers may complain that the heated seats do not get warm enough or meet their expectations. This is more noticeable in colder climates. By design, the heated seat calibrated output temperature is lower on DD than other Stellantis vehicles. Because if this, customers may perceive that their heated seats are not functioning correctly.

Vehicle returned with no change.

Talked to sales manager and requested testing another new vehicle on the lot

We ran that vehicle for 45 minutes and both also noticed barely any heat is noticed in the seats Both DS and PS.

Answer, that's too bad you can submit a complaint to Dodge Service.

Phoned them and they filed the complaint. Could not answer how many complaints are needed to escalate the concern. I was also informed that there is no customer follow up from Dodge customer satisfaction complaints.

Any other vehicle I've driven in the past you can tell when the heated seats are on. As a matter of fact went delivering Christmas gifts in my wife's Chevy Trailblazer last night with heated cloth seats when I turned them on I notice heat within a couple minutes.

Two questions.
Any other owners notice under performance of this feature?

What is your opinion of Dodge response, sorry you feel that way, that's how it is?

This is something I certainly wouldn't have noticed in a 5 minute test drive. Is the solution to stay away from this vehicle if this is a must have feature?

 

[star_deceiver]

I can’t speak about the differences in model year, but with mine you will notice a big difference in performance when it gets down to -25 and lower.
Of course, that could just be because it’s fricken cold out! But, even with it being +3 right now, the heated seats and steering wheel can be felt within 30 seconds and are plenty warm by the time I reach the end of the neighbourhood road.

Remember, it hasn’t been cold here yet.

These seats won’t burn your ass, though. I can recall being in cars where I’ve had to turn the butt warmers off because they’re just scorching!

If the seat heater elements are the same P/N as other as other Stellantis vehicles then it should just be a simple programming adjustment to raise the heat.

 

[Curmudgeon]

Well, response aside, my truck (2014 1500 Laramie, seats are leather and vented) has heated and "cooled" front seats. Also heated steering wheel.
I can barely feel the heat on the driver's side but the passenger side gets substantially warmer and much faster. The steering wheel also gets quite warm very quickly.
The heated steering wheel is the better feature for me. I rarely wear gloves, even when clearing snow from the truck.
My passengers love their heated seat. So there's that.

As far as the dealer's responses, it sounds like they checked for both data and temp and found both in spec. Not clear on what else they can do? FWIW it's not a deal breaker for me, the seat fan works very well and is the more important feature. On a long summer trip it is a very nice addition to AC.

My wife's 2011 Eclipse has seats that are heated only, a low and high setting just like my Ram. With either seat on high you will turn it off or jump from the car at the next light. They get HOT.
Her seats are also leather and not vented with the little pin holes like mine.

A friend posted pics from his new BMW showing the heated driver's seat not only burned the seat but also ruined the dress slacks he was wearing. In this case there was a defect and it was corrected.

It does get cold here where I live, as it is supposed to be in the "teens" all week (Fahrenheit), but unlike Canada when we get cold it tends to come and go throughout the winter season. You probably get colder and for a more sustained duration.

 

[Paul Drumheller]

Yes, we sure do, I'm back at the dealer now. We are measuring 53F when off and changes to 74F within 5 minutes of turning on. Service manager is now looking if he can find a spec for the high end output in degrees. 74 isn't that hot IMO... hopefully it is programmable. We'll see what they think

 

[1stindoor]

I have a 2023 Laramie with the heated and cooled ventilated seats. Haven't noticed them NOT heating up quickly and needing to be turned off, but "cold" in the south is a relative thing.

 

[Ramfanski]

My 22 Laramie seats get hot quickly. I can’t take them for too long.

 

[BossHogg]

We are measuring 53F when off and changes to 74F within 5 minutes of turning on.

It may take longer than 5 minutes to warm but think about the temperature of your skin's surface, typically around 93 degrees F. A heated seat is going to have to do much better than 73 degrees to feel warmth.

I had the same issue with both my 2013 and my 2015 heated seats. You can barely feel them but the steering wheel got almost too warm. In my 2022 Longhorn, the seats get nice and toasty in a short time and I often have to reduce the setting down to one or two bars.

Good luck getting this issue addressed. Start pushing the skin temperature versus seat temperature. It is hard to defend a heated seat 20 degrees cooler than skin temperature.

 

[18CrewDually]

I wonder if they keep the temp down due to it being cloth?
Could always change it with AlfaOBD to see if it makes a difference but it may be a risk.

 

[Papa Red]

My heated seats will cook your fanny if left on high quickly and I too have the cloth seats.

Red

 

[18CrewDually]

My heated seats will cook your fanny if left on high quickly and I too have the cloth seats.

Red

He has a 2023. You have a 2020. 3 year difference and Alfa has them listed as seperate BCMs so there is a good chance the modules from the factory are programmed differently.




Is their nyone on here with a 2023 that has hot hot seats??

 

[donner]

I have a 21 Laramie and I have 3 settings and after 5 minutes I have to turn them down to number 1 or 2 setting, leather seats...

 

[turkeybird56]

I have a 21 Laramie and I have 3 settings and after 5 minutes I have to turn them down to number 1 or 2 setting, leather seats...

I have the 1st early Build 2019 DT truck, built in 2018, bought 2018. But lowly Bighorn. Steering wheel gets nice, but I do have a wrap on it. Seats do nice, but I also have a cushion over the cloth. One of the good things, it does not get monster cold here normally. Also on Bighorn, only Drivers Side and SW start on remote or all starts setting, but can be adjusted ref temp in hard button on dash when on. When the seats/wheel come on automatically, they come on in high, there is no setting to have a certain setting go on. I will have to wait till it gets under 40 this year to see if working, lol.

 

[Paul Drumheller]

It may take longer than 5 minutes to warm but think about the temperature of your skin's surface, typically around 93 degrees F. A heated seat is going to have to do much better than 73 degrees to feel warmth.

I had the same issue with both my 2013 and my 2015 heated seats. You can barely feel them but the steering wheel got almost too warm. In my 2022 Longhorn, the seats get nice and toasty in a short time and I often have to reduce the setting down to one or two bars.

Good luck getting this issue addressed. Start pushing the skin temperature versus seat temperature. It is hard to defend a heated seat 20 degrees cooler than skin temperature.

That's a really, really good point.
They stated yesterday that the wording is comfort seats more so than heated seats?
I was in the vehicle for over an hour yesterday and the setting reduced automatically to one bar which is the way they are supposed to work. I have to admit by that time I could notice them subtly. I also had been sitting on them the whole time and had cab heat on low. By then I was comfortable...again that's a long time to achieve that and my vehicle parks outside. Thanks for the vote of encouragement.

 

[Paul Drumheller]

I wonder if they keep the temp down due to it being cloth?
Could always change it with AlfaOBD to see if it makes a difference but it may be a risk.
View attachment 533834

That's interesting, mechanic I talked to yesterday said there was no settings adjustment available. I specifically asked about this as I'm likely going to get some Katskin leather installed. Thanks

 

[TotallyHucked]

Cloth is definitely more difficult to heat through than perforate leather. My '17 sport with the heated/cooled perforated leather seats takes a little while to truly warm up the seats. The chill is knocked off in the first few minutes but they don't get warm enough for me to turn down for probably 15-20min of driving. It's been ~25 here the last few mornings and I'm nearly halfway to work before I turn the seats down. My old 99-07 GM trucks had better seat heaters but I wouldn't call these bad either

 

[BuschLatte420]

I have heated seats in my 2022 classic, they suck!

 

[BossHogg]

That's a really, really good point.
They stated yesterday that the wording is comfort seats more so than heated seats?
I was in the vehicle for over an hour yesterday and the setting reduced automatically to one bar which is the way they are supposed to work. I have to admit by that time I could notice them subtly. I also had been sitting on them the whole time and had cab heat on low. By then I was comfortable...again that's a long time to achieve that and my vehicle parks outside. Thanks for the vote of encouragement.

My 2022 does not automatically lower the temperature of the seats that I've noticed but then I run the seat at either one or two bars. The steering wheel is a different story, it does lower the temperature over time.

I left my doctor's office this morning, outside temperatures around 33 degrees, about a 12-minute drive home and when I got home, I ran in and got my thermal imager. Here are temperature pictures of the seat back and seat bottom after 12 minutes of three bars. Notice the temperatures running rounding around 110 to 113 degrees. The white cross mark is the big font in the upper left, the max temperature is the red cross mark.




As far as comfort versus heated seating, my build sheet is clear, they are listed as "Heated Front Seats" and "Heated Second Row Seats". The thermal images are defining.

 

[Paul Drumheller]

Awesome, thank you! I need to get those pictures of my coils. But that is a great representation of what I would expect from this feature. And some useful ammunition in my fight

 

[RamDiver]

My '21 Warlock with cloth seats gets hot pretty fast, about 2-3 minutes, regardless of the outside temperature.

I used to start it in the high position, moving it to low within a few minutes and have since adapted my practice to just start it in low. The high position is just too uncomfortable, even when it's seriously cold outside (-20C/-4F).

My former GF used to keep the passenger seat in high for long trips which always surprised me. She did the same with the car we had too.

.

 

[BuschLatte420]

Awesome, thank you! I need to get those pictures of my coils. But that is a great representation of what I would expect from this feature. And some useful ammunition in my fight

I feel like this is the only part of my seat that heats up lol seriously a waste, it’s on the work order for dealer appointment on the 3rd while they install my new rear drive shaft that was bad from the factory as well.