Is 250 F-Sport Heated Seats

[dsyoung]

I have an IS 250 F-Sport with Heated seats. There are 3 settings - low, medium and high. I can not feel warmth under any setting. Dealer says seats are working to specification - but if I can't feel any warmth, I don't believe them. I have owned Lincolns, Cadillacs, BMWs and have never had an issue where the heated seat wasn't physically warm to the touch - particularly under the high setting.

What does the specification say? What should be the temperature output on Low? Medium? and High? I have called several times and can't get any answers.

My loaner RX had operational seats that warmed up within 2 miles of dealer. Yet, I have had my seats on for hours and feel absolutely no heat.

[pj8708]

Hi Dale and welcome.

I agree with you that it's not to tough to tell whether the surface is warm or not.

I don't know what the specifications are for temp and duration. I imagine they said they had checked the fuses. Find someone to check them again. Also it can be a faulty wiring harness or bad switch.

You say you have called several times with no results. Who are you calling? You can go to Lexus.com and look around for the area you think will fit your problem. Personally, I would suggest using tech services or the Customer Service line. This gives you the option of getting Lexus on board with your side of the issue, and they can help work with the dealer in getting the problem resolved.

The funny thing about this issue is my 2013 ES350 gets TOO hot. I barely move the temperature dial and it is immediately very warm. Otherwise the cooling feature works fine.

Let us know what you find out.

Paul

[VBdenny]

Sometimes if the seat fans are also on, the seats won't seem to feel as warm. Not sure I've used the seat warmers except to test them. The fan ventilation system is much more important to me than heated seats. I will admit they do not heat up as fast, nor seem to get as hot as those in my wife's 13 RAV4 .

[13IS250C]

Something is wrong. Mine work great. I don't know why dealerships like to tell everybody that nothing is wrong.

If my seats are on high and my heater on high, I can ride with my top down even if the temps are only in the high 50s.

[VBdenny]

Seriously the technicians at the Lexus dealership can't sit their butts down in your car and see if the heaters work?

[dsyoung]

I was actually told by the service manager "the F-sport has high performance seats and they don't behave like an SUV seats" My thoughts - maybe they should feel differently in the bolster area, be smaller perhaps......but that has nothing to do with whether or not the seats get warm when you push the button.

After a week of calls to the complaint line, I am supposed to get a call back from a manager today at 1pm Eastern. We will see what the plan is.

Thanks for the information and replies

[13IS250C]

Mine is an F-Sport. He is full of horse poo-poo.

[dsyoung]

Latest....after a week of daily calls, the call center set up a meeting with the Lexus Regional parts and Service rep next week. Dealer service manager insists my seats work fine - but still refuses to tell me what the specification says for the low, medium and high settings. If I knew the target values, I could get them measured independently.

My theory....I wrote a bad review of the dealer on DealerRater.com back in August. This may be retaliation for that bad review. Just a hunch.

[13IS250C]

I tell you my gauge. Mine will burn my butt. Do you have another dealership in town?

[LEX-SV]

I have not seared my buns in my Lexus IS, but the warmers work fine.

[13IS250C]

:-)

Kick'm up a notch.

[VBdenny]

Your heated seats probably are not working properly due to the car. These things are so much fun they do have you on the edge of your seat sometimes. First car I have ever used seat heaters in and they work.

[Mark13]

dsyoung, I'm having the exact same problem, and service experience as you with our 2014 IS350 FSport.  We can barely feel any heat, but the dealer claims the seats are working normally.  They won't provide any specifications, but say they compared it to another FSport.  When I pushed for the temperature readings the provided 75 for the seat bottom and 80 for the seat back.  That's "normal" for the heat on high?  I tested the loaner car they gave me with a laser thermometer, and the seat bottom was 94 on high.  The service tech said that didn't matter because the loaner was an IS200t, and not an FSport.   What a bunch of BS.  

Did you ever get the problem resolved? 

[dsyoung]

Sorry but no.  I pushed until I got meeting with regional parts and service manager from Lexus.  Basically he told me that the F-sport was a high performance vehicle with sport seats and that I shouldn't expect them to heat up enough to feel.  My seats met design intent and they weren't going to do anything.

when my lease is done I will never get another Lexus.  A heated seat that never gets hot enough to feel is pointless.  

[VBdenny]

So it looks like the bottom line is that "Sport Seats" don't heat as well as non-sport seats.  Although they look exactly the same and feel the same so I can't see any reason why some would work better than another. 

[dsyoung]

It made no sense to me but after three visits to dealership and at least a dozen phone calls I gave up.  I also own a 2002 BMW Z3 and my wife has a brand new Mini Cooper S convertible and the heated sport seats on both of those cars get very hot.  The Mini seats are hot long before the heater.  We are talking about heated seats not an engine or transmission.....heated seats should get hot enough to feel by definition.

i am just happy my high performance radio is loud enough to hear:)