This is my first post. I recently purchased a 2012 Overland 4X4, V6, White with Saddle interior. I purchased back in October and currently have around 4000 miles on her. I traded in my 2 door Wrangler Sahara, which I do miss from time to time. That being said, I love this vehicle. I love the exterior, the interior, the quality, the power of the new V6, etc....
My only complaint so far is in the wimpy heated seats. The seats in my BMW are hot before I reach the end of the road and thoroughly warm you. The seats in my Grand Cherokee seem to take forever to get warm and then only seem to get mildly warm. It's a small complaint, but I work nights and it's pretty cold when I get out of work. I use the remote start and the heat is going and the steering wheel is toasty when I get to the car, but the seats still feel cold. They do warm up but it seems to take a long time. Anyone else feel this way?
Had a very cold yesterday and today in N. IL about 6F. Yesterday I remote started the car at work after it had sat outside since lunch and left it running for about 6 or 7 minutes. Got in and drove for about 7-8 min before I even felt heat from the bottom. The back was a little quicker but I also had a thick jacket on. This morning it was above 30F in my garage I got in drove to work and it took at least 5 minutes before I felt the heat. And when I say "felt the heat" I do not mean 'heat at a comfortable level' - I mean any kind of warmth at all. I can generally feel the warmth of the HVAC before I feel the seat. Honestly it's almost worthless since my drive to work is only about 10min.
this is how mine work. regardless if its -50 degrees outside or 100.
turn them on high, then turn the off after a minute or 2 and turn the back on hi. they get really warm.
You know I tried this and I might be crazy but I swear this helped! I drove about 2 min down the road and turned the seat off and back on again and almost immediately I started to feel it get warm. Still did not get warm enough for me but it seemed to get there a lot quicker! It was in the single digits and I did not remote start.
I usually remote start, but didn't yesterday, and when I turned on the heated seats to high, after a few minutes I realized I had actually turned on the ventilated seats on high. It was 19 degrees out. After this, I expect the heated seat to feel plenty warm. The seats in my WK2 are much less warm than my WK was or my dad's WJ is. Those seats got very hot very quick. I actually prefer these seats with less heat.
What are you guys wearing? I know when I had heated seats and had jeans on, I couldn't feel it right away but if I was wearing nice dress pants, I can feel it heat up fast.
I find the seats on my WK2 to be pretty lame. I had an 09 Jetta that were nice and toasty. And I've been driving an Audi A6 rental in Germany for the last month. Best heated seats I've ever felt. Heat up instantly and adjust from 1-6.
Agree with those that say the heated area is too small. I find that only the lumbar area and back two thirds of the seat are warmed. Front portion and side of seat remain cold. Mine do get hot but take too long too long to warm up IMO.
+1 on being too small of an area being heated. Maybe some of the issues with how quick they are to warm up is related to the amount of area. Basically it seems my Butt gets warm but my legs are still cold and that affects my perception of how fast it's warming up.
I have a 2012 Overland with Saddle. My passenger seat heats well. My driver seat sucks. Completely different. There has to be something wrong. However I really don't want the dealer poking a prodding around.
Speedtek, let the dealer look at it. You shouldn't be unhappy with something that is not working right. That's why you have a warranty. If they mess something up, they will have to fix it.
I wonder if you could swap the heating element for a different aftermarket one. Someone would need to measure the V/A being fed to the seat at high and low. Plus I'm not sure if there is any kind of sensor feedback to the unit.
Actually, just had an interesting thought. Anyone know if the wiring for the seat heat is more than 2 wires? Maybe the temp is thermistor controlled...?
What happened to cloth/vinyl seats? These leather seats are cold and seem to take quite a while to warm up. Then too hot and takes while to cool off. Very noticeable in the north country.
After just a few days of ownership, I see what everyone is talking about. They seem to take quite a while to warm up and the heated portion on the bottom seems pretty small, just warming up your butt and not your legs.
I was never a fan of heated seats until I got a BMW 535xi--they start to warm within seconds and heat evenly throughout the bottom and back, significantly different than the GC's. Not the biggest issue in the world, but it seems like it would be so easy to get this right.
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