aypues

Mobius1

It's purely not ventilated, it actually is active cooling. Besides the fan itself that moves the air, there's a device that chills the air and extracts heat. It is weak, but technically cooled + ventilated.

Also for whatever it's worth, I tried doing a janky experiment by buying some duct tape and a 1 inch flexible plastic pipe. I taped up one end to the rear passenger footwell ducts and sealed it off and piped that into the filter of the cooled seat filter. It did make a difference but really wasn't worth the effort.

I might try it again and seal off both ends against the cabin to see if maybe that would make anymore difference.

Anyway I don't feel like the cooled seats for my example have been too worth it unless I wear gym shorts with mesh-like material. Barely notice it's effects otherwise.

WindyCity1

There are lots of subjective opinions in here - and that's great - but it's hard to refute empirical data. I ran a simple test tonight.

I put a thermocouple probe in the perforated leather , reaching into the air channel. I used an infrared thermometer to measure the surface temperature of the leather seat. Ambient air temp was 77.
After 5 minutes with the A/c set on 72 and the seat switch full left (max cooling), the air blowing through the channel had dropped 12 degrees and the surface temp of the seat had dropped 10 degrees.

If I have time this weekend I'll try to put the thermocouple in the air duct for the seats and measure the before/after temps of the air passing over the peltier unit.

jayclapp

As Trump would say, FAKE NEWS! If you look at the Lexus site you will find that they describe the current LS seats as being "heated and cooled".

warminwisc

Tariffs set to go into effect friday is not fake news. I was looking at a new Touareg TDi with ventilated seats standard in 015 when done right it is a real nice feature! Anyone have a 460 any improvement? Thanks

max6133

aypues

Here, I looked it up for you. Lame comment. I'm sure their lawyers wouldn't let them make such an obviously false claim for fear of a class action lawsuit.

jayclapp

Read the web site. While all models are ventilated, not all models are cooled, that comes with specific models. You really have to read the whole thing, and not just picking what you want to hear. End of subject as far as I am concerned.

JffGRY706

I have a theory about the seats working for some and not for others. Could it be the product used on the seats is clogging the ventilation holes? I use a product made by Armour all called Leather Care Gel that I apply about 2 times a year. Smells nice and my seats show almost no wear at 136,000 miles but is it possible that it has caused my seat ventilation to be impaired. The seat heaters seem to work fine, but the cooling is almost gone. What do people that still have effective cooling use? anything? nothing? just an idea.

jayclapp

I think you are probably correct in the ventilation holes becoming clogged. The air comes in at the front floor of the seat and has to make its way past the filter into the cooler, then through the seat padding, and finally thru the perforated holes in the leather. After years of use it is probably highly likely that dirty air has become inbedded in the foam padding which has also become compressed and presents a difficult path for the cooled air to flow through. Likewise, the seat padding may have dust, dirt, etc, which is pushed down through the perforations every time someone sits down in the seat. The variation people see, could be from differences in filter maintenance, dirty clothes caused by different occupations, and seat maintenance.

Perhaps someone who has had their foam padding replaced and have seen the old padding could provide some insight into this possibility.

Regarding the seat heaters performance, I'm not sure, but I think the heat does not come from hot air flowing thru the seat, but rather from heating elements.

In conclusion, I think your theory has merit.

BCT

I feel that mine works fine, but again I never own a car with cooled seat, so I do not know what is working great vs no so great. I am not sure how much air need to get pushed out of these holes for one to consider the cooling works great.

Having said that, I think it is a combination of these that cause a reduced in performance:
- Clogged/dirty holes in the leather. Mine looks fine from the outside
- Foam padding is not retaining its original shape, and restrict air being pushed from the fan. I can feel that the foam padding in my driver side is not as supportive as in passenger side. I may consider replacing the padding in the future and see if that change the cooling performance.
- Dirty filter - mine was dirty on both sides.
- Fan is not operating at its full capacity due to dirt/dust or just being old.

Johnhav430

We might be overthinking....isn't it really obvious, that the heated seats work? Meaning, given enough time (again I think more than the other 3 cars we have), the seats will become uncomfortably warm? But, at least for some of us, the seats when the **** is turned the other way, there is no noticeable effect? I guess we have to be very careful and stay politically correct, nowadays. lol I learned that from the cabin air filter discussion

Nyaa

Based on what I am reading, something is wrong with my cooled seats. I haven't really checked the back but in front, they don't feel very effective. I've been having 70-95F days here for the last couple of weeks so they and the air have been on constantly. The air is ice cold even when the weather is approaching 100 but not my driver seat. When I first sit down, I can feel a slight chill but after ten or so minutes, if I put my hand on the back and bottom, I feel my body heat. If I hover my hand slightly over the tiny holes, I can feel a little cool air coming out but not much. The air coming out on the passenger side seems cooler but still not impressive by any means. The heated seats work excellent though.

So it looks like a smorgasbord of things could be wrong. I'll try checking the filters and the fans first, alone with cleaning everything out the best I can. Those seem to be the first places to start.

fmalgapo

I'll add to this that with my driver seat cooling on full cool setting, there is an audible sound that sort of sounds like a faint gurgle...I'd like to check the fan myself. Is there a way to inspection the fan that cools the seats without extensive seat disassembly?

I have checked and vacuum the seat filters already.

Mbodall

It sounds like you may have a partial blockage of your fan. I can very much hear my cooled seats when they’re on high and I’m sitting still, but it just sounds like a fan running and nothing like a gurgle.