Heated seats are the only way to go if you live in a cold climate. These are standard equipment on some vehicles. You can use them when you need them and shut them off when the seats are warm enough. Living in ME, it is no fun sitting on ice cold seats. The seat warmers take the “chill” off in seconds and long before the “cabin” starts to heat up. If you don’t like heated seats, you probably won’t like GPS, heated outside mirrors, ABS, stability or traction control. Please leave your car in the garage for the winter because you probably will not buy snow tires either. GarryK
I didnt have seat heaters until I was sixty- and I thought they were the greatest thing ever in my new Honda CRV. Two yrs after buying my CRV I moved to Florida and the only thing I miss about MA is not using my seat heaters!
My husband calls it a nut roaster, and yes, I too use it as a weapon when I want to get back at him. It came with when we purchased his vehicle. My vehicle has fabric seats, but if I purchase a new one and it has leather seats then I would make sure that it has heated seats. My husband on the other hand is trying to come up with ways to detach this thing without too much damage.
I’m a reasonably manly guy (I own power tools and drive a semi for a living - I think that sort of qualifies me as pseudo manly)and I occasionally use the seat warmer in my personal vehicle. Not often, but occasionally. By occasionally I mean whenever I happen to hit the switch with my leg when climbing in the car. I have, on rare occasions, INTENTIONALLY turned the thing on and been glad I had it. So I guess that almost makes me pro seat-warmers - unless I’ve accidentally turned it on and my buns start smoking before I realize it…
Interesting concept, but I’d curious as to whether the energy savings aspect actually adds up from an engineering perspective.
The car heater uses the engine as a source of heat. She only additional energy used by the heater is the energy required to actually spin the blower to deliver the heat. Small electric motors are pretty efficient. The heated seats on the other hand presumably use energy to heat coils. Electric heaters are generally relatively energy inefficient. However, there is no blower required to deliver the heat to the body.
Has anybody compared the electricity required by each of these? I’d assume each is usually on circuit with a 10W fuse, so the upper limit on the power draw is the same.
Heated seats make me feel like I’ve peed my pants. Do. Not. Like.
I hope you get some statistical analysis done on the results.
Eighty-five posts on this topic so far. This is number 86. Why not heated foot pedals? Heated floor? Armrests? But wait, “it’s so much colder here in (insert your favorite state here) that you just don’t understand.”
I work outside in the northeast all winter. Our heated seats are in our 3/4 ton diesel truck. The truck takes about 10 - 15 miles to start to warm up, the heated seat takes a minute. My husband and I both love those seats.
Is it possible that there’s something wrong with your heater?
But wait, “it’s so much colder here in (insert your favorite state here) that you just don’t understand.”
We’re in a rented Sebring, and the seat heat is disappointingly laser-focused compared to our BMW. I like the all-over thighs to shoulder blades heat. and the three heat intensity settings. even in Hawaii. especially after a workout, especially hot yoga. you’re supposed to feel like your muscles are melting after that class, it lets me take that feeling all the way home with me.
Sorry, but when you get in a car when it is 10 below heated seats feel real nice whether you are a guy or a gal! Maybe in the south guys don’t need heated seats as much as gals but up north it is a must in my book.
I sold my 2008 Honda Accord the week after it was 6 degrees here because I wanted seat warmers. Went to an Acura dealer and asked for seat warmers but they said I had to take the whole car so I did. Love my seat warmers.
I use my heated seats every month for Menstrual cramps and lower back pain. It’s definitely a woman thing. I look for relief anywhere I can!
There is a scientific reason why men do not like heated seats: the testes are located outside the body because they achieve optimum spermatogenesis at temperatures slightly lower than core body temperature. So, it is natural that men would feel uncomfortable with anything that would interefere with their hmmmmmm…manliness(?) Without even knowing why, men simply don’t like heated seats. As a native of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (six months of winter per year) I have had enough frozen tushy time to know why women like heated seats - they have no such bothersome appendages and a quick thaw for the frozen tush is really nice! Isabel Francis, RN
I had a VW Passat with heated seats and the one on driver’s side stopped working. The problem was merely corrosion on the contacts where the heating element plugs into the car’s electrical system. If that’s your only problem, it won’t cost you much to fix–maybe 1/2 hour labor.
Don’t your heated seats have an on/off switch?
I’m a self-assessed man’s man. I frequently rub dirt on or walk off an injury.
If I cut myself in the garage I use duct tape instead of going inside for a bandaid.
I also love my heated seats. I’m an avid outdoorsman, and after a long day when I’m sore and the muscles in my back are shot, the seat heaters are a godsend. Also, I like my leather seats, and it’s cold here in the winter. Getting in the car at 7am with suit pants on is just plain more comfortable when the leather isn’t 15 degrees. I will never buy a car again without heated seats.
According to my dad, heated seats make men feel like they have just peed their pants. This is the way my two brothers feel as well, while my mom and I use them and like them. The only time my dad found it necessary and enjoyable was when he and my mom took his Mini Cooper convertible to the Pacific Northwest for a “motoring” trip where they tried to keep the top down for as long as possible to enjoy the scenery and were able to do that by having the heated seats. But, the only reason why my dad was willing to do this was because some other ridiculous Mini Cooper enthusiast had done a study or published an article in a magazine or something…he wouldn’t have taken the suggestion from anyone else.
Heat reduces sperm quality, which is probably the reason why testicles are placed externally away form warm bodies. If males tend to avoid heating of that general area maybe it is because natural selection has promoted that inclination in men - for those of you Americans that believe in evolution 
Car seat heaters are wonderful, they heat up almost instantly so sometimes I don’t even bother to turn on the regular heat. I will never buy another new car that does not have seat heaters. I want a steering wheel heater too if the cost is not ridiculous.