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Model specific boards => Golf mk6 => Topic started by: DaveyGTD on 17 January 2014, 00:12

Title: Heated seats taking ages to warm up!
Post by: DaveyGTD on 17 January 2014, 00:12
Hey folks, I seem to be jinxed when it comes to cars with heated seats, my last car (A3 Black Edition) was pathetic, 6 settings and only setting 6 was 'lukewarm' and kept turning itself off, my first foray into the heated seats 'adventure' was a MK5 Golf GTI and it was a retrofitting-nightmare, although it worked out in the end.

Anyway...Moving on, I have a MK6 GTD with leather, if I turn the heated seats on, one press of the dial 3 lights, so the highest setting...It takes, I would say around 10-12 minutes before proper heat is felt, but even then it's not exactly hot, put it this way, I could leave it on that setting for a 30 minute journey and not turn it off.

The passenger seat is the same, so I am thinking there must be some kind of setting somewhere within VCDS to adjust the temps or anything along those lines, 10-12 mins is not good enough really, I might as well wait for the heater as that would be quicker!

Anyone else find the same with theirs or have any ideas on a remedy?
Title: Re: Heated seats taking ages to warm up!
Post by: Booth11 on 17 January 2014, 00:50
Mine's the same in terms of slow heat up time - takes at least 10 minutes.  However, when the heat finally kicks in they do get very hot and I usually have to turn them down.  When I first started using them, I was convinced they didn't get particularly hot, certainly not like in the mk5, but the more I use them, the hotter they seem to have got, but that might be psychological.

I don't think you can change the temp with VCDS.
Title: Re: Heated seats taking ages to warm up!
Post by: RocketRossUK on 17 January 2014, 08:49
I would say mine takes about 6-8 mins to get hot, and setting 3 is too hot so i turn it down. It makes me feel like i have shat my self.
Title: Re: Heated seats taking ages to warm up!
Post by: carlt69 on 17 January 2014, 09:21
I would say mine takes about 5-8 mins and get really hot

although if I have a big coat on I can't feel anything!!  :grin:
Title: Re: Heated seats taking ages to warm up!
Post by: Booth11 on 17 January 2014, 09:26
I would say mine takes about 6-8 mins to get hot, and setting 3 is too hot so i turn it down. It makes me feel like i have shat my self.

 :grin:   I gave a work colleague a lift once and halfway through the journey, he started to look very worried and started shifting about in the seat.  He suddenly asked if the seats were heated.  Think he thought he had shat himself.   When I told him they were heated, the relief was palpable.
Title: Re: Heated seats taking ages to warm up!
Post by: BaBaZa on 17 January 2014, 18:48
There was a post somewhere that recommended switching the heated seats off after a few seconds then switching them on again a few seconds later. I've been doing that and it seems to be better, might all be in my head or my arse though
Title: Re: Heated seats taking ages to warm up!
Post by: RedHP on 17 January 2014, 19:11
Hmm, sorry guys. Mine take between 2-3 mins to get really hot, as does the passenger side.

Although I must say that the level 1 setting is a waste of time as heat is very very minimal i.e. no point !

Red
Title: Re: Heated seats taking ages to warm up!
Post by: RocketRossUK on 17 January 2014, 22:08
Hmm, sorry guys. Mine take between 2-3 mins to get really hot, as does the passenger side.

Although I must say that the level 1 setting is a waste of time as heat is very very minimal i.e. no point !

Red

I start on setting 3, but once warm i always switch down to setting one as its just comfortable, I never keep it on setting 3, I dont fancy having a sweaty balls & crack for the rest of the days
Title: Re: Heated seats taking ages to warm up!
Post by: DaveyGTD on 18 January 2014, 00:46
I've been wondering whether it makes a difference if the climate control panel is on (not that it should make any difference as the seat heaters should work independently of that) but really waiting 10 mins or so is totally pointless, as you will get hot air from the blower after about 5-7 minutes of normal driving by which point you wouldn't need the seats on.
Title: Re: Heated seats taking ages to warm up!
Post by: Booth11 on 18 January 2014, 08:31
I've been wondering whether it makes a difference if the climate control panel is on (not that it should make any difference as the seat heaters should work independently of that) but really waiting 10 mins or so is totally pointless, as you will get hot air from the blower after about 5-7 minutes of normal driving by which point you wouldn't need the seats on.

Try it without anything else on and see. This is what I'm going to do. 

Trouble is on these winter mornings it's more important to use the heater to get the car demisted first before having a warm bum.
Title: Re: Heated seats taking ages to warm up!
Post by: RocketRossUK on 18 January 2014, 11:00
they are two totally different systems. The blowers use warm air from engine and heated seats use electricity from the battery, like a electric blanket.
Title: Re: Heated seats taking ages to warm up!
Post by: DaveyGTD on 19 January 2014, 12:05
Tried various options yesterday like turning them on, then off then on again to see if it improved it.

Nope, literally a 12 minute drive and they were just starting to warm up - it can't be right, there is no logic behind it taking so long.

As bad as the A3 Black Edition heated seats were, they still warmed up quick (3-4 mins) it was just their overall temperature sucked (thanks to Audi reducing the temps across the range from 2009)
Title: Re: Heated seats taking ages to warm up!
Post by: Raffe on 19 January 2014, 12:17
Hmm, sorry guys. Mine take between 2-3 mins to get really hot, as does the passenger side.

Although I must say that the level 1 setting is a waste of time as heat is very very minimal i.e. no point !

Red

Leather or cloth?

Ours with leather seats were a waste of time too at around 10mins to do anything worth noting.
Title: Re: Heated seats taking ages to warm up!
Post by: Ze german on 19 January 2014, 18:09
I can confirm still fairly useless ! i have a bmw and the heated seats are hot in 2 mins and very toasty. Also they heat your back as well where as the golf is just the bum
Title: Re: Heated seats taking ages to warm up!
Post by: RocketRossUK on 19 January 2014, 22:25
I can confirm still fairly useless ! i have a bmw and the heated seats are hot in 2 mins and very toasty. Also they heat your back as well where as the golf is just the bum

seats must be broke, mine get very hot and warm lower back nicely
Title: Re: Heated seats taking ages to warm up!
Post by: Booth11 on 19 January 2014, 23:33
Yeah mine heat up lower back too (once they've finally got hot)
Title: Re: Heated seats taking ages to warm up!
Post by: carlt69 on 20 January 2014, 08:54
Further to my previous post, this morning i noticed that they were heating up after a couple of minutes!

Dont know why it was quicker this morning!!
Title: Re: Heated seats taking ages to warm up!
Post by: Ze german on 20 January 2014, 21:01
I can confirm still fairly useless ! i have a bmw and the heated seats are hot in 2 mins and very toasty. Also they heat your back as well where as the golf is just the bum

seats must be broke, mine get very hot and warm lower back nicely

Thanks for the info car is under warranty so will try and take into the garage to fix
Title: Re: Heated seats taking ages to warm up!
Post by: mwad gti on 20 January 2014, 22:04
I can confirm still fairly useless ! i have a bmw and the heated seats are hot in 2 mins and very toasty. Also they heat your back as well where as the golf is just the bum

I've had 2 BMWs with heated seats and both were superb.
Aswell as the GTi I also have an Audi TT and the seats in that are superb  :evil:
Title: Re: Heated seats taking ages to warm up!
Post by: DaveyGTD on 20 January 2014, 22:34
I always hear about BMW's having good heated seats, perhaps I went for the wrong car  :grin:

Audi...Well after 2009 they reduced the overall seat heater temperature so guessing your TT is before 2009... Although I think the later ones (2012+) are back to normal temps again!

As for the Golf, gets more irritating by the day, as silly as it sounds, heated seats were a must-have when I was looking for the car so to pay out a fortune on a car for sub-standard seat heating...hmm!
Title: Re: Heated seats taking ages to warm up!
Post by: mwad gti on 21 January 2014, 10:46
I always hear about BMW's having good heated seats, perhaps I went for the wrong car  :grin:

Audi...Well after 2009 they reduced the overall seat heater temperature so guessing your TT is before 2009... Although I think the later ones (2012+) are back to normal temps again!

As for the Golf, gets more irritating by the day, as silly as it sounds, heated seats were a must-have when I was looking for the car so to pay out a fortune on a car for sub-standard seat heating...hmm!

Yes, my TT is a 2008
Title: Re: Heated seats taking ages to warm up!
Post by: RocketRossUK on 21 January 2014, 18:18
I always hear about BMW's having good heated seats, perhaps I went for the wrong car  :grin:

Audi...Well after 2009 they reduced the overall seat heater temperature so guessing your TT is before 2009... Although I think the later ones (2012+) are back to normal temps again!

As for the Golf, gets more irritating by the day, as silly as it sounds, heated seats were a must-have when I was looking for the car so to pay out a fortune on a car for sub-standard seat heating...hmm!

make up a hot water  bottle in the morning and wear a onesies and a beanie hat. Its not even that cold in a morning, where do you live, high end of scotland or something?
Title: Re: Heated seats taking ages to warm up!
Post by: DaveyGTD on 21 January 2014, 22:52
I know what you mean... But I love heated seats (when they work properly) and whilst it's only a few months or so of the year they get used, it's the principal of paying out, let's face it, a lot of money on a car that essentially SHOULD perform better in that department, it's not like it's new technology or anything.

To some it's trivial and silly, but to others we do expect better for the cost, they might as well have not bothered fitting heating elements in the seats, that's the point im making  :laugh:

I timed it at 15 minutes today - with a low heat starting to be felt, so would guess it would take around 30 minutes for the full heat to be in effect, no one can say that's acceptable surely!
Title: Re: Heated seats taking ages to warm up!
Post by: Booth11 on 21 January 2014, 22:58
If it's taking 30 mins for them to get properly hot then maybe they are faulty.  Perhaps you should get them checked out.  Is the car still in warranty?
Title: Re: Heated seats taking ages to warm up!
Post by: DaveyGTD on 21 January 2014, 23:10
I scanned it with VCDS and no fault codes, but perhaps something like that might not show (but both driver and passenger seats are like that so it's unlikely to be elements, maybe a relay?) A year out of warranty unfortunately :(
Title: Re: Heated seats taking ages to warm up!
Post by: RedHP on 21 January 2014, 23:16
Hmm, sorry guys. Mine take between 2-3 mins to get really hot, as does the passenger side.

Although I must say that the level 1 setting is a waste of time as heat is very very minimal i.e. no point !

Red

Leather or cloth?

Ours with leather seats were a waste of time too at around 10mins to do anything worth noting.

Mine are cloth pal. Both back and seat heat up within 3 mins. Blowers take longer than this, but I guess that this is down to the seat heating-elements.
The wife's 2011 Polo SEL only has two settings for heated seats as opposed to my three. She says that's hers reduce setting levels i.e. from two to one after a certain time and without her choosing to do so.
I've never noticed this 'auto-reduction' on my GiT, have you???


Red
Title: Re: Heated seats taking ages to warm up!
Post by: RocketRossUK on 22 January 2014, 00:08
30 mins to heat up !!!

1.) you're seated are deffo f**ked, or

2.) you must an extremely fat ass and the heat takes ages to reach your core   :grin: :grin: :grin:
Title: Re: Heated seats taking ages to warm up!
Post by: DaveyGTD on 22 January 2014, 00:23
 :grin: Im going for 1!
Title: Re: Heated seats taking ages to warm up!
Post by: Ze german on 22 January 2014, 07:25


make up a hot water  bottle in the morning and wear a onesies and a beanie hat. Its not even that cold in a morning, where do you live, high end of scotland or something?
[/quote]

Hilarious  :grin: :grin: :grin: