My driver side seat warmer spontaneously turns on when starting the car, usually one bar. It has happened occasionally in the past, but in the past week it lights up most of the time. It is not due to my brushing the switch with a finger or otherwise flicking the switch. Is this supposed to happen? Is the car telling me, "It's cold out here and you won't turn on the **** heater!"
Could be. Our Jeep turns on the seat and steering wheel heater at 37F. Probably something that can be disabled as well.
The driver seat one bar occurs when the car was last selected for economy "ECON" mode-- the one with the big green leaf on the top of D icon. Normal mode (not economy, and sport mode) do not do this. Also, don't know for sure but Clarity is smart enough to only do certain things in certain temps. For example, I drive in ECON mode very often, and don't think it turns seat heater on when ambient temperature is normal or hot.
"Is the car telling me, "It's cold out here and you won't turn on the **** heater!" "don't think it turns seat heater on when ambient temperature is normal or hot." Yes and Yes. My experience also.
Normal operation. Here’s the previous long thread on the topic. https://www.insideevsforum.com/community/index.php?threads/seat-warmer-turns-on-automatically.3833/page-3#post-61771
In Econ mode when cabin heat is activated 2 things will happen: 1) Heat will be activate at a more energy conservative level than Normal or Sport. 2) The driver seat heater will automatically be activated at level 1 to help keep the driver warm. (Seat heaters use very little energy). Both these economy items are designed to reduce the massive amount of energy the electric heater uses.
Thanks for the clarity on this issue and to my Clarity for thinking of me during Wisconsin's interminable winter. I like a warm butt as much as the next guy.
It happened to me on my way over to San Diego 2 weeks ago. I hadn't read about this on here, so it was a surprise to me. I was tooling along I8 near the golden acorn casino and felt my back and legs getting hot. I had it on econ. But I had previously read on here that ECON mode does a few things...so I assumed the seat warmers were due to ECON. It seems to turn on too soon though, it was like 55 outside and I didn't need any heat
I only noticed this happening this year which, coincidentally, was around the time I started using the “Auto” temperature function by pressing on the driver’s side temperature knob. Does the auto seat warmer only operate when that button is lit up?
I believe yes, only on auto. The owner’s manual (not owner’s guide) only says: “When the ECON mode is active, the driver’s side seat heater functions according to the status of the climate control system. If you want to use only the climate control system, press the seat heater button to OFF.”