Chazzer96

As the heat is starting to kick it, I turned on the ventilated seat and at first, I never realized it but just last week when I used it I felt my back get really hot...My question is do you guys ever feel it get hot on your back, is this a design flaw or something just bad on the car? I can feel the cold air through my thighs but my back get all sweaty because of how hot it gets.

arentz07

This seems to be the case with many owners. The air coming out of the seats is initially pretty hot on hot days, and will cool down over time as the entire cabin gets cooler. It seems to be worst right there on the lower back like you mentioned, in my experience as well.

ex00

I think that is just normal and not really a flaw since it's just drawing air from under the seats or around it so expecting them to be cool or cold off the bat is just high expectations. Just have the a/c at the lowest temperature and let the car idle for a few minutes with the windows cracked open just to let hot air escape. As long as your windows are all tinted and you have a window shade in the front, it kinda helps reducing the heat.

Flash5

Yeah pretty much what everyone else already said. They are “cooled” by drawing air from under the seat so if the entire cabin is hot, then hot air will be coming out of the seats. It sucks, but I guess it’s better than nothing.

NickCaesar

im noticing, and I could just be crazy, but I swear the vented seats in my car worked better before. I remember I use to turn them on and you could really hear/feel them working... now that’s it’s warm out I and I’m using them again it geeks like they are wayyy weaker than before and I’m not really feeling it on my back.

WhatYaGot

What I do is always have the a/c split between the dash vents and the floor board vents. Remember, it pulls the air from below into the seats. If your car is hot when you get in, turn on the a/c and open the windows for a few min to cool down the cabin.

wforty94

you are not crazy, the backrests DO get warm sometimes when they are on ventilate mode. I suspect the little fans inside are overheating.

Flash5

No, it’s definitely the warm air in the car. There’s no reason the fans themselves would cause warm air. If you blast cold air under the seat you’ll definitely feel the cold air.

arentz07

Considering the warmth happens right away, before the fans have any time to overheat, I doubt that.

NickCaesar

I noticed when I first got the car, only 6 months ago, the vented seats were crazy good. I remember you could really feel the air and the seats were LOUD,you could literally hear them... now its like a little tiny airflow on my legs but almost nothing on the back and no noise.
im gonna go out with a Kleenex and put it in various spots and see if there’s any decent flow but I’m 90% sure they’re not working like they did before. Maybe now that’s it summer it’s so much hotter I just don’t notice it??

E46CT

Yeah there's hardly such thing as a "flaw" these days. These things are drawn up on a computer far before prototypes are built. Something as simple as a device that blows air on your back isn't exactly rocket science.

It's just your perception of feeling hot/body weight/clothes etc and your desire to get cool now. Since the seat simply pulls existing air and blows it on you, the air has to be cool to begin with. Which means you need to cool the cabin down as well as overcome any heat everything else including the seat (and you) is saturated with. So you're calling for triple-duty there the moment you get into your hot car.

swaangin

Lexus calls them "ventilated" and not "cooled" seats for a reason. It's just a fan that spins that takes air from the cabin and shoots it into your back. So when it's hot outside, don't use the ventilated feature, turn the A/C on, what I do next is position the back seat vents to the sides of the seat and then after a few minutes of driving, I turn the ventilated seats on.

On a side note, I did notice was (I drive a 2015 IS 250), when I used the ventilated seat function on the newer RC (2017-2018), it worked much better and was significantly cooler.

Chazzer96

Yeah, now I understand the process...I just wanted to make sure that I did not a defective part. At that point then the Ventilated seats are pretty much pointless on a hot day.

Olasek

Until you cool down the interior of the car they could be said to be "pointless". I live in more moderate climate and don't have this problem.

Chazzer96

I live in the inland empire so it could get hot here especially during the summer.