It is my wife's vehicle and heated seats are important to her (I despise them). Good thing cooled seats are way down on her priority list because they are not very effective. I would enjoy them if they actually worked.

 

They worked really well on a Taurus I had but these I don’t feel.

 

Ventilated seats on my:
'14 RX - USELESS
'18 GX - USELESS

Nothing more to say.

 

I'm also disappointed with the effectiveness of cooling, so I started to think of them as ventilated seats, not cooled, and I feel better.

 

It's important to note that the seats are only ventilated, not cooled. They only blow the cabin air thru the seat. They don't have their own cooled air system just for the seats. It does seem to be improved on the 4th Gen RXs. As the ventilated seats are set up to suck air in, not blow air out. This helps pull the heat away from your body and seems to be more effective.

 

This is information is wrong for the the 3RX (owner's manual, p. 620).

As for 4RX, the manual does not specify (p. 523).

Where did you get this information? I suspect this incorrect and that the air flow is so weak you perceive it to be sucking air rather than blowing air out.

 

A few years back someone inserted a stiff piece of bent cardboard on the floor below the rear of the drivers seat, where the rear seat passengers feet may hit it. It blocked the seat air flow from going to the rear and apparently increased airflow through the seat perforations. I have not tested this, but am throwing it out there in case someone else is inclined to try it out. If you search you may find the old thread as it had photos.

 

On my rx350 level 3 heat is noticeable, but level 3 cold not as much. I think cold should feel like level 4-5 (if there was)

 

There is no "cold." The RX seats are simply ventilated. If the air under your seat is 95 degrees, that is what the weak seat fans will attempt to blow through the seat.

Lexus should step up their game and truly incorporate air conditioned seats that really work into the next generation of all models.

 

Agreed, like I said before, the seats in my Taurus would really cool your tail...and I really wanted the heated function more...

 

Better than nothing but not very effective. Our other vehicle, on the other hand, has very effective ventilated seats.

I definitely need them even with a parchment interior.

 

That information I mentioned was talking about the 4RX. All you have to do is hold a piece of paper up against the seat in the 4RX with the seat fan on and it will stick to the seat. It definitely sucks air, not blows air. When you have the ventilated seats going on full blast in the 4RX, you can tell they are stronger in the 4RX than the 3RX. Or at least it's louder.

 

I use mine all the time. I have a 15 Rx F sport. They are not the best I will say. They keep my back from sweating on the seat that's about it.

 

Our Chevy has cooled/ventilated seats. Those work great.
Our Lexus has a **** that turns on a fan, makes a lot of noise, but doesn't cool worth a crap.
And yes, we set the A/C fan to blow 50% from the dash and 50% toward the floor to help the "cooled/ventilated" seat function work better, but it makes no difference. The Lexus RX 350 cooled seat function in the Gen 3 car is worthless. We specifically paid more for this car to get this function so if this post seems like I'm angry about it, I am. I expected much better from Lexus, much less from GM. But GM figured it out, Lexus is clueless.

 

Ineffective. Heated seats work well though.