Cooled seats not cooling

[Stangnut]

"The engineer was aware of the issue, and said there is a new snorkel in the works."

No surprise on Ford's apparent fix approach. Probably thanks to this thread to some degree and the experiments done by members here.

That quote mentioning a snorkel was for F-150's. NOT Mustangs.

Sponsored

 

[GT Pony]

That quote mentioning a snorkel was for F-150's. NOT Mustangs.

Yeah, but I'll bet the same fix will be applied to the Mustang since the design and issue is very similar.

 

[Droid_Junky]

Well unfortunately mine only lasted 2 dates until the gorilla tape failed and peeled off due to too much heat also. Hopefully one of the other ideas people are trying works out and you share your success and designs with the rest of us.

Temperatures here dropped from 100-110 to 85-90. I can definitely tell the seats backs are cooling little bit with the lower cabin temperatures. But they're not much help at all when the car says it's 115 when you first get in it.

Same here. Bottom cools fine, but the back keeps itself heated unless I turn it off (97F according to my car's outside temp).

Out of curiosity, I turned the passenger's seat on as well (no one on it) and it did the same thing. Bottom cooled, but the back stayed really hot.



Is it easy to do? I'll probably do the same thing.

It will cause the bottoms to also not work if disconnected. So there is no point in disconnecting just the back. It has been tested.

 

[Sc00ter]

Seat backs not cooling

Welcome to the forum, BootyNugget! As jbailer mentioned, please bring your vehicle in to your dealer for diagnosis. Also, PM me with your VIN, dealer, mileage, full name, and best daytime number. I’ll get the customer service manager for your area looped in.


I don’t have a number, RubyRed15. But the more you guys resist going to the dealer, the longer it’ll take.


Have you addressed this with your dealer yet, RockStang?

Deysha

Hi, Deysha. Thank you for being involved. I'll be making an appointment at Yocum Ford for "diagnosis" next week, and will PM you my info to keep you in the loop.
As for those of you sweating your backs off in silent outrage, get to your dealer and verify the issue ASAP before someone can make an end run around the issue by changing the name of the option.

I was one of the first to order a car with the 50th Anniversary Package last summer, and kept a screen capture of the list of items the package included from Ford's "build your own" website at the time, including "unique floor mats." By the time I took delivery at Thanksgiving, the words "unique floor mats" had disappeared from my dealer's 50th Appearance option description list printout (cheap, brilliant fix).

Don't think Ford will fix your cooled seats because it's the right thing to do: that's not how this works. Go verify the issue at your dealer so that is undeniable proof that it exists. Take your window sticker along if you have to.

 

[lwilliams]

Don't think Ford will fix your cooled seats because it's the right thing to do: that's not how this works. Go verify the issue at your dealer so there will be undeniable proof that it exists.

The problem is that the dealer just hooks up diagnostic equipment and if the readings of the cooling units are correct, the deem it NPF....No Problem Found. The tech will not spend "butt time" in the seat long enough to experience the problem--- he will not be paid for it by the manufacturer. And that is the only way to verify the problem. As long as the "readings" are correct, they say there is no problem and on to the next car.

And, with a NPF DIAG, there is NO warranty claim and, therefore, no word getting to Ford without us asking above dealer level.

 

[GT Pony]

^^^ That's why anyone here bringing in your car for cooled seat diagnostics needs to make it very clear that they really don't work after being on for 15+ minutes. Make sure they test when first turned on, then at least 15 minutes later and they should see the back units died off while the bottom cushion units are still cooling along.

 

[Sc00ter]

The problem is that the dealer just hooks up diagnostic equipment and if the readings of the cooling units are correct, the deem it NPF....No Problem Found. The tech will not spend "butt time" in the seat long enough to experience the problem--- he will not be paid for it by the manufacturer. And that is the only way to verify the problem. As long as the "readings" are correct, they say there is no problem and on to the next car.

And, with a NPF DIAG, there is NO warranty claim and, therefore, no word getting to Ford without us asking above dealer level.

Good point, lwilliams - let's fix that.

Okay, everyone, how long did it take you to create a scorching-hot seat back? 10 minutes? 20? 30? We need tips on how to recreate the hotseat, so we can drag the service manager outside with us to sit in the car as soon as we arrive for service and remove the "plausible deniability" option.

Comments, please!

 

[Phillip123]

They are actually not cooling if the car is not cooled with AC in the first place. They just rotate the air that is already in the car.

 

[Darko66]

Good point, lwilliams - let's fix that.

Okay, everyone, how long did it take you to create a scorching-hot seat back? 10 minutes? 20? 30? We need tips on how to recreate the hotseat, so we can drag the service manager outside with us to sit in the car as soon as we arrive for service and remove the "plausible deniability" option.

Comments, please!

Even though it's quite frustrating, I don't think it really matters whether the dealer is willing or able to recreate the problem. Even if they do or if they get a code from the diagnostics, the best action you could hope to get from them is ordering and replacing the same parts and that won't help at all.

Until Ford acknowledges and creates a solution, the dealer's hands are tied as already mentioned.

So, all we can do to help move things along is take it to the dealer, tell them we know they can't do anything about it. We just need to document the problem through them so that we can escalate it up the chain. Then pop back here and PM Deysha with your info and hope for the best.

 

[RubyRed15]

Good point, lwilliams - let's fix that.

Okay, everyone, how long did it take you to create a scorching-hot seat back? 10 minutes? 20? 30? We need tips on how to recreate the hotseat, so we can drag the service manager outside with us to sit in the car as soon as we arrive for service and remove the "plausible deniability" option.

Comments, please!

15-20m

 

[Darko66]

They are actually not cooling if the car is not cooled with AC in the first place. They just rotate the air that is already in the car.

The units do include a thermoelectric cooler/heater, so the air blown into the seat is supposed to be considerably cooler than the ambient air. However, if the ambient air temperature is high, they don't cool very well. So, the cooler the air inside the car is, the better results you should have.

The device has a range of how much it can cool. If the cold side goes down X°, the hot side goes up X°. e.g if ambient air is 85 it might cool the cold side to 60 and thus the hot side would heat to 110. The temperature range is dependent upon a bunch of variables including how much current is sent to the unit. If they figure out the venting we might benefit from a bit of a power bump as well.

The problem with the design is that the hot exhaust air gets trapped in the back of the seat and thus the ambient air temperature rises. Assuming the same temperature range as above, let's say the ambient inside the seat gets to 110 shortly after turning on – the best the cold side would be able to get to is 85 and the hot would be 135. Without a way for the heat to be exhausted and/or for cooler air to be brought in (dropping the ambient temp), the temperatures keep rising and it eventually gets to a point, I believe, where the temperature gap between the hot and cold sides closes and it reaches stasis with pretty much everything just being hot and staying hot. (note that I'm just throwing out sample numbers, not sure of the actual temperature range of our units).

If the dealer pre-cools the car to 60-65 and maxes out the air during testing, it is possible that the unit will perform fairly well for some time, especially if it's also inside an air conditioned bay. It's not a very real world test, but it would explain why they would be unable to reproduce the problem.

 

[Ap8823]

Is the backs supposed to cool? I feel like the back of the seats gets hotter than seat warmers when the cooled seats are turned on... Spending 34k+, you think there would be less problems :(... They need a recall or something cause this is ridiculous when some cities hit 105°. It's a great feature to have when its working...

 

[SVTFreak]

Is the backs supposed to cool? I feel like the back of the seats gets hotter than seat warmers when the cooled seats are turned on... Spending 34k+, you think there would be less problems :(... They need a recall or something cause this is ridiculous when some cities hit 105°. It's a great feature to have when its working...

Read the last 33 pages and you'll find that yes, it's supposed to cool the back and no, it doesn't generally work right.

 

[Sc00ter]

If the dealer pre-cools the car to 60-65 and maxes out the air during testing, it is possible that the unit will perform fairly well for some time, especially if it's also inside an air conditioned bay. It's not a very real world test, but it would explain why they would be unable to reproduce the problem.

All the more reason to handle this during the middle of the hot summer with written directions to test in real- world conditions, such as starting up the car in the middle of the day in a sunny parking lot. That factors out everything but the dealer intentionally pooching the test, and will be trackable on the dealer service form. I'm pretty sure Ford does not specify pre-cooling to test A/C.
:clap2:

 

[willmkent]

Dealer acknowledged my cooled seats and have been working on the car!

Sponsored