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That's good and all, but they are leaving us 2015,16,17 owners out. This should have been a warrantable service bulletin. I might just set up an appointment with the local Lexus dealer here and see what they can do. If they can somehow address this then it would be amazing. Heck, can they just swap the 2018 seats over to the older models? Lol...
That's what I'm thinking, the seat looks exactly the same as 15-17 and should be a direct swap, unless that easy access requires extra connectors and programming.
If ur car is still under warranty, just bring it in and try but everything depends on the service advisor, some are willing to really help u but the majority don't give a shiet.
I brought my car in multiple times for a loose seat and they all kept telling me it was normal, even though u can rock the seat by hand. That is until I talked to this one SA that kept pushing Lexus Corp. to replace the seat tracks and that fixed the problem.
UPDATE on this problem:
One of the service advisers at my local Lexus dealer contacted me about my complaint to them about the ventilated seats. He was very professional and pretty much said the following:
1.) Lexus have been improving on the ventilated seat design since the first model 2015. 2015 is when it is the worse in terms of design flaw. For 2016, they actually increase the fan size and perhaps even power, but people started complaining about the loud noise. They did some more iteration on the 2017 but that didn't really help much either. Then on 2018, they actually changed the design and have a channel where the bottom leg vent will direct cold air into the seat. So 2018 is the year to go for in terms of correct functionality (at least for the ventilated seat feature goes). As an engineer and from an engineering standpoint, it should not have taken them 3 years to get this perfected. Kind of unacceptable for me.
2.) The seats between models are not interchangeable. I mean in terms of 2015-2017 to 2018. The internals and wiring are different in the 2018 model so they can't be swapped to the older model years. At least that's what the adviser said. Though I also doubt Lexus will ever put out a warranty service bulletin for this anyway.
3.) It's not just the RC. Any model with this type of seat is affected. Maybe the IS model too.
4.) Lexus knows about this since a lot of people have complained to them throughout the years. Though they are staying pretty quiet about this design flaw and make the changes as they release the new model year. The customers are the guinea pigs.
So there it is guys and gals. We are screwed if we have the 2015-2017 model years. It's a big design flaw since the fans are just directing air within the cabin to your body. If it is hot outside and the car has been out for a bit of time, the cabin air gets super hot and it will cause the fan on the back to take in hot air and direct it to you. Though I think the real problem is that there is no channel or opening for the back fan to draw in air, even from the cabin. So it literally taking the air from the confine space that it is in and blow it out to your back. The bottom fan doesn't have this problem as it could be taking air in from the bottom seat as there could be a channel or vent underneath there. I just drove the car this morning. Both fans worked fine as it was blowing out regular "cool" air. Why? Because the cabin is not hot haha...
Anyone who is thinking about this getting car, I recommend to go with the 2018. Wait for a year or two and get a CPO one. It goes back to the saying "don't ever get the first year model of a car." In this scenario, don't get the first 3 years of the model. This is my first Lexus so it is disappointing, especially with the Lexus badge on it.
Great information here. So we two fans in the seat? Can we just disable the one that's blowing hot air? Half cooled is still better than no cooled. Thanks.
Originally Posted by BluMonkey
UPDATE on this problem:
One of the service advisers at my local Lexus dealer contacted me about my complaint to them about the ventilated seats. He was very professional and pretty much said the following:
1.) Lexus have been improving on the ventilated seat design since the first model 2015. 2015 is when it is the worse in terms of design flaw. For 2016, they actually increase the fan size and perhaps even power, but people started complaining about the loud noise. They did some more iteration on the 2017 but that didn't really help much either. Then on 2018, they actually changed the design and have a channel where the bottom leg vent will direct cold air into the seat. So 2018 is the year to go for in terms of correct functionality (at least for the ventilated seat feature goes). As an engineer and from an engineering standpoint, it should not have taken them 3 years to get this perfected. Kind of unacceptable for me.
2.) The seats between models are not interchangeable. I mean in terms of 2015-2017 to 2018. The internals and wiring are different in the 2018 model so they can't be swapped to the older model years. At least that's what the adviser said. Though I also doubt Lexus will ever put out a warranty service bulletin for this anyway.
3.) It's not just the RC. Any model with this type of seat is affected. Maybe the IS model too.
4.) Lexus knows about this since a lot of people have complained to them throughout the years. Though they are staying pretty quiet about this design flaw and make the changes as they release the new model year. The customers are the guinea pigs.
So there it is guys and gals. We are screwed if we have the 2015-2017 model years. It's a big design flaw since the fans are just directing air within the cabin to your body. If it is hot outside and the car has been out for a bit of time, the cabin air gets super hot and it will cause the fan on the back to take in hot air and direct it to you. Though I think the real problem is that there is no channel or opening for the back fan to draw in air, even from the cabin. So it literally taking the air from the confine space that it is in and blow it out to your back. The bottom fan doesn't have this problem as it could be taking air in from the bottom seat as there could be a channel or vent underneath there. I just drove the car this morning. Both fans worked fine as it was blowing out regular "cool" air. Why? Because the cabin is not hot haha...
Anyone who is thinking about this getting car, I recommend to go with the 2018. Wait for a year or two and get a CPO one. It goes back to the saying "don't ever get the first year model of a car." In this scenario, don't get the first 3 years of the model. This is my first Lexus so it is disappointing, especially with the Lexus badge on it.
I still can't figure out why the the 2015-17 seats can't be swapped with the new upgraded seat for 2018. The functions seems to be the same (it's either on or off) with the only difference where the air is rerouted to get cooler air and in terms of the different wiring, I don't see why they just cant use an harness adapter. Am I missing something?
It's what the service advisor at my local Lexus said. It doesn't mean that it is exactly true. If we have the parts breakdown picture for both version then we can see exactly if anything (if at all) changes. If someone has the time or brave enough to complain to lexus and/or dealer to make the swap as a test, it would be awesome.
The dealer wasn't fond of this idea when I brought it up over the phone. Plus I doubt they will do it for free... Unless Lexus actually put out a warrantable service bulletin for it.
Note: the heating issue, I am unable to identify as this is my personal car and i dont have time or need/desire to pull my seat out and disassemble down to the frame.
1. the reason the ventilation in the upper portion of the vented seat is crappy (at best) is because the manufacturer (Yota/Lexi/3rd Party, etc) used a poor glue/adhesive to adhere the venting fan carpet which directs the flow of the upper fan into the seat back. See pictures below... Pulled the back of the seat apart to see for my self how this system works the gray cloth your seeing is an "Air Barrier" used to direct air from the fan to your back This is the vent tube mounted into the "Air Barrier" The Fan the vent tube is attached too, also note, the cavity a little higher there is the inside portion of the headrest The Adhesive is very obviously giving out Aaaannnnddd thus.... there is a huge air leak!No pressure can go where its supposed to! Its fairly systemic... its not as bad on the bottom portion of the barrier but i figured id reach every inch i can get my fingers too I just used a really basic headliner adhesive to re-adhere the loose portions and some foam cut to use as an applicator so i wasnt spraying (too much) while actually inside the vehicle
SO there we have it.... to the best of my limited knowledge and skill I believe this is why the seats dont have very strong airflow.... Sadly why some seats are actually heating .... Im not sure about...But i can say that mere minutes after re-adhering the "Air Barrier" piece of carpet the flow to the back is easily MUCH MORE BETTER, lolz
Also, being the dork that I am.... i jerry rigged the AC vent under the seat to flow up into the head rest. Hopefully this will allow some flow of COLD air up there and allow some actually cooled seats... that part i wont know until i get some time to test. More to come soon... Also havent inspected my passenger seat yet, but as of today i did notice it was flowing earlier today...
If the seat back just zips open, as it appears, then the fix is simple and quick. Of course, it should not be a problem, but this post and the photos are great. Thanks for investigating and taking pictures for us. If that problem develops in my car, I will certainly try this, although I think I would not use a spray adhesive but something a little more directed and less messy that I can just brush right onto the places that are coming apart.
If the seat back just zips open, as it appears, then the fix is simple and quick. Of course, it should not be a problem, but this post and the photos are great. Thanks for investigating and taking pictures for us. If that problem develops in my car, I will certainly try this, although I think I would not use a spray adhesive but something a little more directed and less messy that I can just brush right onto the places that are coming apart.
Sadly it's really not just a zip open... Not entirely anyways... There's a rod holding the seat back to the seat front, required to be removed in order to get the seat back up and free... Sorry I didn't get a picture of that, but it's not otrageously difficult... And hey on a positive note channeling the AC from the floor vent up into the headrest using apool noodle of all things did in fact create a bit more of a cooling effect on my back! That's only one day of use and a pool noodle is the definition of Jerry rigging... I will be looking for a more appropriate method in the near future
I am new to Club Lexus and joined to hopefully get help with this problem. I have a GX 460 and live in Texas which makes ventilated seats very important to me. I will never own another auto without them again. I no longer feel air blowing through the seat cushion but feel it in the seat back. Previously, I could feel a decent about of air from both areas. Are these areas controlled by two different fans or could something be blocked? Could the problem be a blown fuse? I would appreciate help from anyone on this issue.
Thanks, Tammy
I am new to Club Lexus and joined to hopefully get help with this problem. I have a GX 460 and live in Texas which makes ventilated seats very important to me. I will never own another auto without them again. I no longer feel air blowing through the seat cushion but feel it in the seat back. Previously, I could feel a decent about of air from both areas. Are these areas controlled by two different fans or could something be blocked? Could the problem be a blown fuse? I would appreciate help from anyone on this issue.
Thanks, Tammy
Probably blocked, but try posting in the GX part also. This is the RC section.
So the performance of the Lexus seat cooling (fan) system is not as good as other cars, that we can agree on. Here are some IR picts of what it is doing. Keep in mind I pulled the car out of the garage and parked it in the shade with the AC on, auto mode went off when I selected floor vents.
I turned seat fan on high on drivers side and heat on high on Pax side and took these pictures. After turning off heat and switching to fan on Pax side I waited a few minutes and took the third pict that shows how minimal the cooling effect is. Except for moving the car I did not sit in it so this is best case without any blocking of the airflow.
Passengers Heat on Drivers Fan on. Notice the areas without airflow 4 Minutes after switching from heat to fan
Last edited by dxrRC350f; 07-24-19 at 01:39 PM.
Reason: Text Spacing
My 2019 IS built late 2018 (I wanna say October. My car had zero prep done by the dealership and had just landed when I purchased it in November) has this issue. I have noticed it 3x since temperatures have become 80-95 daily in SoCal.
Not sure what else I have to contribute but I can confirm this was NOT fixed for 2018+
Ok, I just got back from visiting Newport Lexus about this concern in my 2019 IS 300 F Sport.
The shop foreman met with me and sat in my car with me. He very nicely confirmed this is how every Lexus is except the LS as they are only ventilated seats, not air-conditioned (which is something I was aware of prior to visiting)
He actually pointed out a second spot on the seat that warms up, though not as much as the seat back. These are the locations that the two ventilation motors sit. I’ve attached a photo with these two locations circled.
He offered to to bring a brand new IS F Sport down so we could both sit in it so I accepted that offer. The brand new vehicle never even slightly began to heat up like my car. However, the brand new car was cool inside as it came from a covered parking garage.
I decided to take my car back with me and try the ventilated seats tomorrow morning straight out of my garage as I typically only use them when the interior is already hot. This way I can confirm if it is actually heat trapped inside the seat like he suspects or if the electric motor is overheating.
If if I can confirm the seats function normally in the morning, my plan is to do the “iPhone box mod” where one side of the iPhone box is cut off and the HVAC vent below the seat is redirected into the lower ventilated seat motor. Hopefully that allows them to cool down quickly when the interior of my car is 100+ degrees.
07-19-18, 09:48 AM
2015 RC F Vented Seats FIX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ventilated seat cushion not blowing air
