crmjr1

When I turn on the driver seat fan controls to number 3 (cool) I do not notice any difference in seat temp. If I turn on heat the seat gets warm, anyone notice this problem. Living in the Phoenix area seat air conditioning is real nice.

RXSF

it is not "air conditioned" seats, it is "ventilated" seats. That means that the seat is actually sucking air downwards to air out your lower back and pants. While you may not feel any coldness, it should prevent your back from getting sweaty and overly warm.

People also note that it helps if you turn on AC and direct the air to the floor.

Hope that helps

kitlz

RXSF is correct. Also, auto mode tends to direct the A/C away from the floor when it's on the coldest setting. I use the mode button on the dash to switch vents to include the floor. The ventilated seats will work better that way.

caddyowner

There are 3 types of seat cooling:

1 - Ventilated suck: Fan(s) in the seat suck cabin air into the seat through the perforated leather and exhaust it on the floor. This is a very gently form of cooling and can still leave hot spots under you. The Cadillac STS has this form of seat ventilation.

2 - Ventilated blow: Fan(s) in the seat take cabin air from below the seat (usually through a filter) and blow it out through the perforated leather. I believe this the method used on the RX and, as stated above, benefits from having the AC controls directed toward the floor.

3 - Cooled blow: A solid-state peltier unit is located under the seat. Cabin air from below the seat is drawn in through a filter, through the peltier unit to cool or warm the air, and blown out through the leather perforations. The cooling effect is often very dramatic. I seldom set the cool setting on my Lincoln MKZ about the first setting. Higher settings were, well, uncomfortable. My LS430 supposedly has this type of cooling, but it is very weak - a common complaint.

caddyowner

^^^
A couple years ago, there was a lively discussion on the STS forum of Sal's cadillacownersforum about whether current generation STS seats sucked or blew using little pieces of toilet paper to measure the air flow.

sweetboy02

Double it.

Evitzee

Ventilated seats on both of my Lexus' are weak, weak, weak. They are pretty useless. Even wearing shorts and a tshirt I can seldom feel anything, even with the fans on max. It's a really poor feature and not worth the complexity (fans, perforated holes, controls, etc). Lexus could do better.

jtrue28

YMMV. My wife's '10 RX 350 and my '11 GS 350 cool our behinds very well. As has been mentioned, the interior cabin temperature will have to drop before the effects can be felt...it's just blowing the cabin air around. Obviously if your car has been sitting in the sun all day, it's going to take a few minutes to cool everything down inside the car.

happy1977

I can feel ours on the seat but I don't feel anything at the back at all. The ventilation helps as I hate the leather's conductivity to temp. I'm wondering how to check the back rest's fans if they're working.

cafpaf

I being up this old thread because today I used the ventilated seats for the first time and notived no difference whatsoever. Do we know for sure what type of ventilation the RX uses? Does it blow air up through the seat or pull it down through the seat. I would think it is the former. At least I hope so. I hear the fan turning but feel nothing. Thanks for the help.

happy1977

Check this thread out.

cafpaf

Thank you, I have read this thread. I am just wondering in which of the two ways does the air move through the seat. Based on the thread referenced above, it would seem that the air goes up and through not down. I just want to know for sure. Thanks again.

RXSF

no, I think the air is sucked down into the seat.

GrandSedanFan

iTrader: (1)

The air is blown up. Trust me. I keep the climate control set around 72 and blowing at the floor. I have also un-bungee'd the lower seatback carpet trim and pulled it down to trap the cold air under the seat. If I turn the seat fans on, VERY cold air is blown up through the seat.

yangster

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...ont-seats.html


There are a couple of threads out there that are like the above. You need to set the air flow to top/floor and then divert the air up to the seat fan. You can use anything like the pic in the thread. I tried it with cardboard and vinyl coving but the car wash people kept pulling it out when they vacuumed the car. Ended up up some of the hard plaster glad sandwich containers and tied them to the A/C duct. It blow the air straight up to the fan.