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can ventillated seats be retrofitted?

2K views 4 replies 5 participants last post by  lstowell 
#1 ·
I'm looking at the options to purchase a new car and see the perforated seat cushions are only in the luxary group that adds seat ventillation. I really want the perforated seat cushions but can't see in spending $3k just for that. Granted the panoramic glass roof is nice but that's not a neccessity. The other items just aren't that important to me. So has anyone added ventillated seats to their WK2 ?
 
#2 ·
It would likely be very expensive to try to do the fully ventilated seats (with the blowers) after the fact. If you're just interested in the perforated leather surfaces, you could consider a Katzen retrofit in a color to match your OEM seat covers. But even that isn't inexpensive...
 
#3 ·
I have a wk2 with the vented seats, and maybe my perspective may help. I live in South Florida, where it never really gets below 60 in the day (for more than a week a year), and is often high 80's to low 90's with brutally strong sunshine. In this environment, I have owned non-perf leather seats, perf but not vented seats, and now vented seats. I can honestly tell you that I feel no difference between perf and non-perf leather, and exceptionally little difference between perf non vented vs. vented (off). They all start out hot and sticky here, and they end up hot and gross.

The above being stated, I was eager to try vented seats. I no longer consider them a luxury, but a must have on any future vehicle that offers it (so much so that I might consider ruling out a future option that does not, which is a shame because I think I could really like a Tesla, or i8, or other such baubles that are well out of my price range).

If you are in an area that has few hot-car days, and plan on staying in such an area, it may be much less of an issue for you to have the vented seats, but I wanted you to know that I at least found very little difference in comfort level between non-perforated leather and a punctured hide...

This is of course simply my opinion...and may be worth to you what you paid for it...
 
#5 ·
I'll offer an opposing data point, but admittedly for entirely different climatic conditions, since I serious doubt if anything short of fully refrigerated seats could make Florida summer days comfortable.

Around here, thru Utah, Nevada, the vented seats are quite nice and effective for days in the hundreds or above--but the heat is dry heat to say the least. For really hot days, hit the Max AC and let the autovented seats come on full blast.

They are also nice for milder days in the 80s or so, but again, the humidity rarely gets to 20%.

They appear to slow down ventilation after a while, but on a long drive you'll still notice the difference.

The trick with adding in after the fact would be the cooling fans, as you'd need seats designed for use with cooling fans. The auto controls are nice, but you could live without them if you could find high quality vented leather aftermarket seats with built in fans. Doubt if they'd be much cheaper or even as cheap.... particularly if you whine, cry, and beg the salesman...
 
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