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Dear Car Talk: Is there any problem with leaving the passenger heated or cooled seats on when those seats aren’t occupied? — Steve
Well, the biggest problem with leaving it on is if you drive home with your groceries on the seat. Then you get home and your ice cream has turned into mint chip soup.
This is not an issue that’s likely to affect the course of humanity, Steve, but I would turn off the seat heater when it’s not in use. Seat cooling doesn’t matter, because that just redirects air-conditioned air toward your tuchus.
But the seat-heating element in the seat has a finite lifespan. And while it can be the life of the car (or at least your ownership of the car), that’s not always the case. And when they do have to be replaced, it can cost you $1,000. That would singe your back side, right?
When we do see this, it’s usually the driver’s seat element that wears out. Why? Because it gets used far more than the passenger seat.
Now, keep in mind, it’s not even possible to leave the seat heater on in all cars. A lot of cars use digital switches, which can be timed, to allow the heater to run just long enough to give you some cross-hatched sear marks, then shut it off, if not renewed.
Cars with digital switches also tend to have reset features, which shut off the seat heat when the ignition goes off, so the seat heat will not come back on, automatically, the next time you start the car.
Some higher-end cars even use butt sensors to determine whether the seat is occupied and adjust the heat based on that — or outside temperature sensors that turn the seat heat on automatically when the temperature drops below a pre-set point. But there are still plenty of cars with plain, old “Off-Low-High” switches. And if your car is one of those, it’s best to switch it off when it’s not in use. Otherwise, your passenger seat heating element will wear out as fast as the one in your driver’s seat. Maybe even faster, because your butt’s not there to remind you to turn it off.
Got a question about cars? Write to Ray in care of King Features, 300 W. 57th St., 41st Floor, New York, NY 10019, or email by visiting the Car Talk website at www.cartalk.com.