Heated Seats, possible fault, advice pls.

[Gozzy]

Hi there I was wondering if anyone could help me with my heated seats. The problem is that they work well but im slightly concerned as they take between 5-10 mins before they start getting warm. As said, once warm they work well. I just want to know whether this is the norm or if I should sent it in to be looked at. They are leather seats.
Thanks

[wigit]

in reality the heated seats on the roc are not as hot as the ones on our GTI, always put this down to the way the pattern meaning there is a bit more foam, who knows

[RW1]

Mines leather and 5 - 10 mins is about right before you feel the warmth. Usually about 6 to 7 minutes I start to feel the seat getting warm. Don't think there is anything faulty with yours. (They don't work until you sit on them btw, there's a switch in the seat itself to sense body weight.)

C.

[char]

While in traffic today I did some testing From cold it takes approx 5 mins but if you have already warmed the seat for 10mins ie. using your body warmth and then turning it on, it will only take approx 2-3 mins.

Cheers

[Deagol]

Mine has leather too and there is definitely a delay before you get a toasty bottom.

The wife's Beetle has heated fabric seats and after two to three minutes on maximum setting, you can smell burning !
My MkIV Golf GTi had heated fabric seats and they took a while to heat up and never got to the same sort of temperature as those in the Beetle. I never knew if this was a design change between 1999 (the Golf) and 2002 (Beetle) or something different.

Mind you, that Beetle always has been a bit unusual - must be a touch of Herbie about it....

Getting back on topic, I don't think there is a fault with your particular car - it sounds like the leather takes longer to transmit the warmth. Do fabric seats get hotter due to the type of material, I wonder?

D

[Billc]

I do wish that they'd start working BEFORE you sit on them! In my previous car I could turn them on, attend to the rest of the defrosting and then when I got in the leather was all nice and warm. Them not starting to warm until you sit down does seem to defeat the point somewhat!

[Deacon]

I do wish that they'd start working BEFORE you sit on them! In my previous car I could turn them on, attend to the rest of the defrosting and then when I got in the leather was all nice and warm. Them not starting to warm until you sit down does seem to defeat the point somewhat!

Pop something heavy on the seat while you attend to the rest maybe?

[bianco]

There is a know fault with the heating elements in leather seats of cars produced before may 2009.

They will be replaced free of charge. But be ware that the dealer will start by checking the potentiometer, which works fine. You must insist that he reads up on the documents from VW, which clearly states, that if the customer says it does not heat enough then it must be replaced free of charge - regardless what the electronic fault-tester says.

I had mine changed, and now it heats so much I can feel it after 1 to 1.5 min. and I have to turn it off again after 3-4 minutes.

http://www.michaelneuhaus.de/scirocco/s ... obleme.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Leistung Sitzheizung zu gering
(Nur Leder) Bei Ledersitzen arbeitet die Sitzheizung zu schwach. Eine Heizleistung ist nur auf Stufe 4 oder 5 bemerkbar und es dauert 5-10 Minuten bis die Sitze warm sind. VW verbaut seit 05/2009 verbesserte Heizelemente in den Sitzen. Eine Nachrüstung ist auf Garantie möglich bis 05/2009

[RW1]

Covered by TPI 2018916/4, 27.04.10

Improved change was at week 19/09 - from chassis WVWZZZ13ZAV401108.

As bianco writes, they will change the leather seat heat elements . It doesn't state the warm up time though, ie 6 mins I get nor to look at the dash controls. It makes the point the heat output being too low, hence Michael Neuhaus's remark about the heating control being at the top end of the settings ie. set to 4 or 5.

Timed mine yesterday and today. 6 mins to starting to feel warm. My build is well past the above chassis number by 34 weeks. Control is set to 2 and that is comfortable. Find after a further 15 minutes, the hot-ish seat drifts back to a warm seat for the rest of the journey. Set to 3 and its too hot for me in the early stage and remains too hot once the seat settles.

C.

[TagnuT]

Coming from a MKV Edition 30 I have noticed a big difference in how the heated seats work. In the Golf if you put on half power (3 out of 5 ) within a couple of minutes they were red hot.
The seats in the Scirocco get warm within a min or two. But I have noticed that the temperature of the seats only seems to get up to full power when I have driven 13-15 mins and just as the car is getting up to working temperature. I can really feel a sudden increase in temperature

Question is, is the ECU restricting the amount of power that the seats use until the engine is up to temperature??

[Shaun]

You can start to feel mine in the first minute, they seem to get warm quite quickly