Cooled seats not cooling

[RubyRed15]

I want my fucking seats fixed.

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[GT Pony]

I want my fucking seats fixed.

I'm thinking there will be enough people complaining that the seat backs don't cool that Ford will have a TSB/fix for this problem.

Maybe someone can verify if this heating/cooling/fan unit P/N used in the Mustang is the same as ones used in other Ford vehicles that do have seat backs that actually cool.

 

[Stangnut]

The only way we MIGHT get a TSB is if evryone takes their car to the dealership to get it fixed. Nothing at all is going to happen just from posting on a forum.

 

[turtleboy]

I was running my cooled seats for about 3 minutes before I got home and felt the seat back where the fan is and it was surprisingly very hot to the touch. Is the fan on the back part of the seat suppose to be blowing air on your back or pulling heat away?

 

[surfs1st]

I was running my cooled seats for about 3 minutes before I got home and felt the seat back where the fan is and it was surprisingly very hot to the touch. Is the fan on the back part of the seat suppose to be blowing air on your back or pulling heat away?

And there is the million dollar question. No one right now knows. You can scroll back through this thread and read the various results of tests people have perfromed. Bottom line, they don't work as designed. I personally believe the fan in the back of the seat is a safety issue. Nothing can run that hot on the interior of a car (enclosed in a seat full of flamable materials mind you :doh and not be considered a fire risk. How it got past QC is a question that only Ford can answer.

I'm tempted to take mine by Ford with the infrared thermometer (seat back read 102 yesterday) just to see their service departments reaction. Maybe if I could crack an egg on it and cook it for dramatic effect....

 

[GT Pony]

I'd really like to see one of the Ford Service Reps step into this discussion again and for them to push this up into Ford Engineering to get a definite answer on what the issue is with the seat back cooling.

 

[jbailer]

^^ This! And provide us with something to take to the dealers with us. There is still no TSB and no formal acknowledgement of the problem. I bet more people have this problem than realize it. Either because they aren't in a warm enough environment or they don't know that the seat back is supposed to be cooled as well.

 

[Droid_Junky]

I had some free time so I looked into this issue. Here are some pictures of both the bottom fan and the back fan. To get to the back there are two elastic straps holding the bottom flap in place. Of course they had to wrap it around electrical wires so I had to disconnect two connectors to get it untangled.

From what I can tell... the back fan is simply getting air from within the back of the seat. It's hot because it cant breathe. I suspect as it gets warmer the inside of the seat just stays warm. They also put a partial cover over the fan so nothing can get sucked into the fan and stop it all together. It has power wires to the actual fan and another set of wires between the fan and where it blows out into the seat. So I believe this is what cools it down.

The air is not at the bottom of the seat. The flexible rubber vent is dead center of the seat above the lumbar support. It's also possible that the flexible rubber is getting squashed when we sit back and preventing the air to circulate. The rubber is very flimsy.

Here are the pics.

The first two are the bottom fan which is open to the cabin.

The third is the best shot I could get of the back fan.

 

[n8rfastback]

I have noticed that my seat cools well, but the top of the seat between my shoulders where it's not vented does get hot if I leave the cooled seat on during my drive. It gets hot enough to be uncomfortable. My 2010 SHO also had the same flaw, so I'm sure it's an engineering issue and not a defect. I wonder why the top gets so hot? Maybe it's just that it feels hot because the rest of the seat is cool?

 

[GT Pony]

I had some free time so I looked into this issue. Here are some pictures of both the bottom fan and the back fan. To get to the back there are two elastic straps holding the bottom flap in place. Of course they had to wrap it around electrical wires so I had to disconnect two connectors to get it untangled.

From what I can tell... the back fan is simply getting air from within the back of the seat. It's hot because it cant breathe. I suspect as it gets warmer the inside of the seat just stays warm. They also put a partial cover over the fan so nothing can get sucked into the fan and stop it all together. It has power wires to the actual fan and another set of wires between the fan and where it blows out into the seat. So I believe this is what cools it down.

The air is not at the bottom of the seat. The flexible rubber vent is dead center of the seat above the lumbar support. It's also possible that the flexible rubber is getting squashed when we sit back and preventing the air to circulate. The rubber is very flimsy.

Nice work! From the photos it's obvious that the seat back unit has the 4 heavy wires going into it which are for the heater/cooler device.

When I tested my seats in the cooling mode, it was idling in the garage with nobody sitting in the seats and the seat backs never cooled down even 1 degree. So if the flexible duct is being choked off, it's being choked off without anyone sitting in the seat. All though, I can feel air flowing out the perforated leather on the seat back when nobody is sitting in them, so apparently the duct isn't choked off then.

So based on your excellent investigation it seems the back unit should cool just like the seat bottom/cushion unit. The question is still why doesn't it?

 

[GT Pony]

I have noticed that my seat cools well, but the top of the seat between my shoulders where it's not vented does get hot if I leave the cooled seat on during my drive. It gets hot enough to be uncomfortable. My 2010 SHO also had the same flaw, so I'm sure it's an engineering issue and not a defect. I wonder why the top gets so hot? Maybe it's just that it feels hot because the rest of the seat is cool?

I think you are only one of a couple of guys who have claimed their seat backs cool down. Can you actually feel the cold air coming out of the seat about half way up where the air seems to come out of the seat back? Put your ear down along the back of the seat and you will be able to hear exactly where the air is coming out through the leather surface.

 

[GT Pony]

Droid_Junky - so if you run the seat cooler on high can you feel the flexible rubber tube where it connects to the cooling unit get cold?

From the photo, it looks like the fan/cooler unit is physically located near the bottom of the back of the seat and the rubber duct then directs air up towards about the middle area of the seat back? That's where it seems the airflow is coming out on the back of the seat on my GT.

 

[Droid_Junky]

So I did a little more testing while I had it open. the air actually blows throughout the top two panels. The flexible vent is attached to the seat and it disperses through the panels. Dip you hand in some cool water, then run your hand across the seat without touching it.

I recommend everyone having issues bring it in so it can be checked. I am scheduling my appointment right now. You have to insist that they stick their hand up the back of the seat and feel the flexible vent. It is extremely warm. I attempted to take a picture while I was getting the reading but it was difficult. I scanned it for at least ten minutes and the highest temp I saw was 110 degrees.

This was a scan right on the rubber vent.

Here is one of the bottom fan.

 

[Droid_Junky]

Droid_Junky - so if you run the seat cooler on high can you feel the flexible rubber tube where it connects to the cooling unit get cold?

From the photo, it looks like the fan/cooler unit is physically located near the bottom of the back of the seat and the rubber duct then directs air up towards about the middle area of the seat back? That's where it seems the airflow is coming out on the back of the seat on my GT.

The fan is mounted within the section of the bottom square of the seat if you divide it into the three sections. The vent is dead center of the middle section. The rubber vent is warm and there is nothing but warm air blowing throughout the open area of the seat. The vent is either leaking before getting to the back of the seat or there is so much air that it can't get out of the front holes and is recirculating. There is a lot of air being lost within the seat. If it was all making it out to the front it would be obvious that there was an issue. I would say the air flow is equivalent to putting you hand in front of the regular vents while on low.

 

[GT Pony]

^^^ That's not good. I'm wondering if the unit is wired backwards or something. If you put the seat heater on high does the rubber duct get even hotter than 110 deg F, or does it cool down some?

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