StlGasMan

I previously drove a 2008 Lexus ES. I found the ventilated seats to be quite effective. Didn't have need to use them until this week in St. Louis, but either they are malfunctioning or not as good. Intermittently feel some air but not much. How do I verify the fan is working?

LexusVet

Ive found they work much better if you also have the a/c on using the lower vents then the seats pick up the air and circulate much better.

Chris8152

Unfortunately the seats are vented not cooled, so basically you just have a fan under you seat. If you put the fan on then get out of the car you should be able to feel the air coming through the holes in the seat leather, the problem is that when you are sitting in the seat you are blocking up the holes so the air cant get through, I have only used the vented seats once, haven’t had any hot weather here in the UK so far, and I found that if you lean forward every now and then you can feel the air blowing on your back. I was also surprised to find out that the vended seats still blow even if there is nobody sitting in the seat.

StlGasMan

I don't know if it is the shape of the cabin, but didn't have to make any changesin the ES.

jsch222

Has anyone else noticed that if you have the seat vents on high and lean forward you hear a loud sucking noise? It's not that noticeable when you're sitting normal, but when you lean forward it is very loud. It is similar sound to a whole house vacuum where you just have suction with no engine noise. I wonder where the intake is for the ventilation. My previous IS was not nearly as loud. I'm on the fence with performance at this point.

jtrue28

Yes. I think it's just the fans in the lower back part of the seat. Intake has to be under the seat. There is a HVAC vent coming from the floor, so I would imagine that is where the fans pull the air to send through the seat.

jsch222

Do you need to have S-flow turned off so that the back seats are receiving a/c in order for the ventilated seats to pull in cold air? Or can you have S-flow enabled so that no a/c is going to the back.

I always have the back turned off, as it is usually just me in the car during commutes.

jtrue28

I'm not sure what S-flow is, but the 2 vents on the back of the console do have air coming out, so I likely have it turned off. But again, there is a vent under each seat that is not visible, where I believe the air is fed from there to the seat....when necessary.

jsch222

S-flow shuts off the vents to the back seats (heat or A/C). I'm just curious is this has any factor if it is enabled and no a/c is going to the back seats. Needless to say I have only used the ventilated seats a couple times, but i'm not impressed up to this point.

bigblack06

iTrader: (20)

I don't think I have that button, must be on the luxury model.

terrycs

You have it.

It may not be on the Lux because it has rear climate controls.

jsch222

I have an AWD with Premium pkg. No Lux

harleymark

If you have dual zone or three zone (the rear seat zone) AC, you should have the S-Flow function.

From the manual:

When the S-FLOW switch is pressed,
the airflow changes as follows.
Without rear air conditioning system:
Air flows to the front seats only.
With rear air conditioning system: Air
flows to the front seats only, and if the
passenger seat is unoccupied, the set
temperature, outside humidity and
temperature inside the cabin are
assessed, and air flows to the driver
seat only.

jsch222

Now the big question is - how do these settings impact the ventilated seats?

CincyBrad

IMO, they are worthless. I can't feel it at all when sitting in the seat.