My 350 is almost 2 years old. Have experienced this about 4 weeks ago. Pulled up for fuel & when I got back in & started it up I got a warm sensation on my back. First thing I did was look at the warmer control which was off, I put my hand on the passenger back & it was hot too.
I then turned on the cooling to try to counteract it but it didn't do anything, about a minute down the road it all sorted itself out & went back to normal.
Seems like it might be a common fault.

 

2016 model here and I've noticed this while using it most of the day but it worked well this morning. I guess between the seats already hot and body heat the ventilation isn't strong enough to cool off. Most of the time when the sun is beating on the car the seat back gets hit and not as much the seat bottom which is why you don't notice the heat there.

 

When I owned a Genesis the cooling stopped working in the drivers seat because the plastic tubes running through the seat flattened from the weight put on the seat. The crushed tubes wouldn't let cooled air through. Took about a year for this to happen. Next time you're at the dealer inquire about this.

 

I think they are normal as I tested many cars and they are all the same. I think many people have the misconception that these are seat coolers which is not correct. These are just fans which ventilate the seats and what ever air under the seat it is pumped to you. As a result do not run it without an AC blowing cold air.

 

Correct, although in milder climate like here in the Bay Area I can have AC off and still feel a nice cooling breeze coming from behind me. The best way to know that something is coming through the pores is to lean forward just an inch or so, this way you create a slight gap between your back and the seat - this is when you can feel the soothing breeze best. It is virtually impossible for me to feel anything coming from the bottom of the seat - the thickness of pants effectively blocks any effect.

 

2015 IS250 here, and I have the same problem. There is nothing the dealers could do to fix that issue.....

 

This is normal!!
They are seat ventilators NOT seat coolers like the LEXUS LS460
Our seats Materials absorbed heat so what it's pushing out it's heat first
No where near as good as my old 2002 s430 seat COOLERS

 

When I ran it, it was a hot day, car had been in sun, set AC to low 60s, turned on ventilation, and the seat back got really hot -- both driver and passenger -- turned off ventalization and seat back went to 'normal warm', turned it on again and seat got very hot. So if it was supposed to be blowing the cabin air (AC), it wasn't. I'm guessing the poster who mentioned the motor overheating is probably correct.

 

I have the same problem as well unfortunately ..... I've tried all kinds of different combinations with the climate control to get it to not be as hot but it's still remains hot .... My solution was just not to use it any longer

 

Add to this thread. I've noticed the same general issue on my car. Sometimes the ventilation works fine, sometimes the seat backs (mid to upper section) get noticeably warm/hot. It doesn't always happen... maybe 1 in every 5 times I try to use the ventilated seats.

It is NOT from body heat since I can make the passenger seat with no one sitting in it do the same exact thing.
I don't think it's the motor since the motor runs every time but the heat doesn't show up every time. I don't think it's lack of cool air from the A/C near the floor - today I turned on the ventilated seats mid-day after car was in the sun and they worked fine.

Has anyone gotten the dealer to definitively determine what the problem is? Anyone get theirs fixed? I'm gonna take mine to the dealer about this.

 

i have this problem intermittently. it's def not normal. dealer can't replicate the issue. next time this happens, I'm driving straight to the dealer.

 

I've noticed in my 200t the flow is much weaker on the back than the seat. If the car has been in the sun, the weak cooling doesn't seem to overcome the heat in the seat if it's hot already. Bottom it does. Would be interesting if someone comes across a fix. My guess is that "working but weak" won't get much attention. Is what it is.

 

I wanted to chime in on this, my car seat heats up after an hour, I live in south Florida and I don't need heated seats and since ventilation won't work I would like to remove that panel and put in some usb chargers or something.
This feature is useless to me, if the ventilation would help on a hot day it would be worth it.