jons2art

I have had several cars with heated seats, Saab, Acura, and Lexus and all seemed to work better than my 2011 Audi Q5. Even when at level 6 it takes several minutes to feel warm and never gets really hot. Is this normal?

palumbo3284

This has been a heavily discussed topic on the forum. Most are in agreement that in comparison to other manufacturers as well as previous year Audis, the seats do not get nearly as hot. Some seem to think it has to do with it being a safety thing, but I don't think anyone has determined to true reason why the seat heat is lower these days...

Personally, I think the seats are plenty hot, but I tend to always more hot than cold in most conditions, so they work for me. The debate continues

Reisen

I noticed it on my test drive. That said, heated seats usually get too hot for me anyway, so no big deal. Still, I'd prefer them a little warmer.

HZ60

Here's a short novel about my experience with this issue.

I have been having a small war with Audi USA about the seat heaters since last October when I took delivery of a 2011 Q5 Premium Plus. I noticed, as you pointed out, that they just don't work very well. They get moderately warm on the highest setting and then fade to practically nothing. When it's around zero here in Colorado, for me, they are practically worthless. Customer Relations said they were turned down "just a little" because of a safety concern and that the 6 setting is now the same as the old 5. They said it was normal and then I got the famous, "They're all like that". I have a friend with an 09' Q5 and his seats get nice and warm and stay that way. I was not satisfied with their explanation. I figured if they wouldn't accept my opinion, maybe some actual readings would get their attention. I collected some temperature data under what I considered to be fairly scientific conditions using a calibrated Fluke meter. With the heaters off and the temp sensor between the seat and my leg for 10 minutes, I got a baseline reading of 91.5° F. I set the heaters on 1 and proceeded to take 5 readings on each setting at one minute intervals. At the end of my little test, the total temperature rise was a whopping 3°F to 94.5°F. I called them back and explained what I had found and that I felt there was something wrong with the heaters. I also took the opportunity to ask if there was in fact a safety concern with the older models, why was there no recall issued? They replied that they never said it was a safety concern and they didn't know why they were turned down, they just were. Now I'm getting a little PO'd. They said to send them my data and take it to the dealer so they could run some diagnostics. Two days later, the dealer said they were functioning according to design. They said that the heaters reach 100% output on each setting in about 3 minutes. After about one more minute, they back down to 50% and stay there. They explained that this was how the programming was designed and that there is no way to change it. I asked exactly what the "output" was that they were measuring, he said amperage. So, the "new" setting 6 winds up being 3, setting 3 is really 1.5 and so on. I spoke with the regional After Sales Manager who was very familiar with the situation. I told him I thought that Audi was not unable, but rather unwilling to change the programming and that as soon as someone figures out a Vag-Com crack for this I was going to do it. He said there were many owners out there who were unhappy with the heaters and to let him know if I come across a Vag-Com fix. He said as far as he knew, there was no way to change the programming and would be very interested if there was. It's not the end of the world or anything I just feel like I paid for something I didn't get. As far as Audi is concerned I will just have to deal with it, we shall see.

loscoz

WOW! that's some serious testing HZ60 .... have you done any comparisons in the temperature outputs using the same calibrated Fluke meter on another Q or an older Audi before they turned them down for what-ever-reason?
I wonder what the temps would be in those?

Do you also know if the heating system is affected if the seats are also wired for the cooling system?

HZ60

I haven't done any comparison testing except for sitting in my friend's 09' and trying them out. No need to measure, there is a big difference. The temp measurements I took on my car were only for Audi so maybe they would take me seriously and change the programming, no such luck. Sorry, but I don't know how the heated and cooled seats are programmed or if the heat settings were lowered on them as well.

AmazonJohn

I too have complained about the heated seats in my 2011 through the "comments" section on the Audi site, the JD Power survey and on the initial call I had from AOA a few weeks after buying the car. When I told the woman my biggest complaint was the heated seats she said that "they had never heard of that problem before".

I have owned 5 VAG vehicles (2 VW's and 3 Audis) since 2002 and all with heated seats. They have all been equipped with noticably effective heated seats and the Q5's are just plain weak and not befitting of a luxury brand. I pretty much can't feel anything on less than level 6 and on level 6 they are just mildly warm. What irks me the most is when a company won't "own up" to an issue and be frank with it's customers about it. I expect more from a brand such as Audi. Just come clean and say we made a mistake and give your paying customers the truth (and hopefully a solution to fix).

springsteen

A previous car I owned several cars ago (maybe Acura--can't recall) was able to be reprogrammed to increase the temperature on the seat heaters. I wonder of Audi could do the same thing??

solucien

I thought there was some correlation between the temperature setting of the AC system, and the intensity of the heaters in the seats? eg, on a higher ambient temperature setting, the seat heaters would also get warmer. well this is what I read somewhere, so maybe interesting to test?
Personally, I feel like the seats get plenty warm, but hey I live in SoCal and only use them once in a while during trips to the mountains or a cold early-morning surf

Cosmosblau

To me, the heated seats are easily the most disappointing aspect of the Q5.

They are a joke. I feel ripped off.