During the last month I just bought a 2011 GS350 with only 15,000 actual miles on it.

It handles like a new one in every way. I love it beyond description.

Except I can't get the seat cooling feature to work. I hear the fan in the seat running but it is very sporadic when it works. I have never felt any cooling from the back of the driver's seat. I've read several of the threads on this forum to try to get an answer. I am thinking the fans don't work.

But I need some help on how to take out the driver's seat to do that--I can't find any instruction video or help anywhere.

Ebay has some fans that seem to work and are relatively low-priced.

But I guess my question is: Even if I replace the fans and they work to perfection, is it really going to be all that good? I realize the fans are only recirculating the cab air conditioning (and yes, I have tried full blast and bi-level air conditioning--it makes no difference). Is it worth the effort to replace the fans in hopes of improving this?

 

Sounds about right. I bought my '08 460 back in 2014 with only 16k on it, and I was basically in the exact same boat as you. Thought the seat cooling feature was useless, until I took it for a 5 hour car ride through Eastern Washington (the HOT part of the state), then realized I had zero back sweat, and the seat was still cool to the touch. It's not necessarily going to be super cold air blasting your back the whole time, but more of a subtle breeze that prevents your back from getting all sticky. A good test is to crank the AC, turn the cooled seats to 3, wait a minute, then hover your hand over the perforations - you should be able to feel the air coming out. Overall, it's a bit of an underwhelming feature, but it does help a bit!

 

Just to clarify, you've got ventilated seats (no active cooling feature) in your GS. Definitely could have a problem with the ventilation fan, but don't expect a blast of cold air out of them. If you do, it's passthrough from the main AC system

 

Let's say I'm supposed to have ventilated seats. I don't feel any cooling or air or breeze or whatever when I move my hand over the seat probably 80 percent of the time. I play with the blue dial, moving it from 2 to 3 and back and forth, and can occasionally feel a little air. Never have felt anything out of the back fan.

So do you think this is worth my while to try to replace the fans or just live with it?

 

Just live with it, they just really aren't that powerful unfortunately. Despite this, there's a world of difference between having them on, and having a car with nothing at all, at least in my experience.

 

do you hear fan noise? if you do the fan is working, not a whole lot of air from it but is something you can feel, consider swapping out your seat cushion, your 10 years old cushion might be flat and worn which pretty much blocking the vent holes, IMO it was a ***** to do

i live in Vegas with 120 heat when i first got the car i got this


works REALLY well no more sweaty thigh and back everytime i drive but it doesn't sit as comfy but is a good trade off over sweaty back,

then i decided to spend some money and tint my front windshield as well and never worry about it

 

For what it's worth: In my 2007 430 the ventilation only works if the seatbelt is connected.

A robust vacuuming of the seat might help clear any blockages in the leather perforations? Dunno

 

Like everyone is saying, it's not really powerful. You won't notice much. It's reusing the air inside the vehicle. If it's 200 degrees inside your car, it's recirculating all that hot air through the vents in the seat cushion until the cabin temp cools down.

On the LS and maybe the LX, they have active cooling. Anything below those flagship vehicles has a passive system.

 

Cushions are definitely blocked. Noticed it working less in the 30K miles and 2 years I've had my GS. Still keeps the back sweat at bay though.

 

OK. I'll get a soft brush to clean out all the air holes in the seat and give it another try, with some aggressive vacuuming. I do hear the fan noise from the bottom seat, but nothing from the back of the seat. Thanks for the suggestions. I won't go overboard with taking out the seat and replacing all the fans and controllers.

 

It's not powerful enough to notice but it helps after my workouts or playing sports, my butt and back sweat dries and stays cool lol. Definitely better than not having this feature at all!

 

The ventilated seats aren't that powerful in my GS nor were they in my older ES330.

However, if you have the A/C running, it can sometimes suck cold air into the seat and cool you down.

 

I did a hour's worth of scrubbing and cleaning on the seats and it did make a difference on the air flow out. Thanks for the suggestion. I guess there must have been some dirt or polish or something in some of the holes to block the air.

 

As a noob, I am happy to hear I am not the only one feeling this system is underpowered. That said, back sweat has been kept at bay in the Sacramento valley's July heat wave thus far. So I've got that going for me, which is nice.

 

I have a very curious question, my 07 GS 350 came with only heated seats, does the heated seats have a fan? I am wondering if changing the center console switch to ne with the vented switch will it work? Or the seats with vented feature got another fan and another system to do that? I practically never use the heated seats since I live in the caribbean, I will die to have the vented feature.

Cheers!