jmandell03

I have had my 2014 e350 for a little over a month. i love the car. Does anyone know if you can add a heated steering wheel after the fact? I don't understand why Mercedes does not ship most of their cars with one like BMW does with their cold weather package. Also looking to add illuminated sills also if possible. Any help would be appreciated.

GregTR

It is possible as they have an entire service guide for the retrofit however there are two issues:
1) It is not available for US vehicles
2) It is most definitely cost prohibitive as it requires a completely new steering wheel ($1K) and a completely new steering column switch module ($500)

ph350

It is possible but really cost prohibitive. From the dealer, it would cost way too much to justify. Try to locate a wheel on ebay and ask if they would also sell the column switch for a good price.

GregTR

The problem is that the column switch is a complete unit including the gear shift, blinker stalk, cruise and steering column adjuster. So you have to find a car that has the same features (distronic or rear wipers) and same model year as yours.

If you have Distronic+ finding a heated steering wheel+distronic stalk set in the used car market will be like finding a needle in a haystack.

And I haven't mentioned the cost of the control unit that is behind the dash plus all the other wiring that has to be done.

Long3494Qut

I know this is useless and may feed to the need, but I love it ^_^ I even take off my gloves on cold day drives!

stale-bread

I have wondered the same why they don't offer the package like BMW does. Thanks for the break down Greg. It has put to rest my urge spend the coin and time.

alanme123

Always wanted to do this mod, but gave up on it because of the price.. Wanted to get a nice wooden steering wheel.

Can we just get a steering wheel and swap airbags? I heard that that way is cheaper, but I don't know if you can just swap out airbags.

Long3494Qut

Out of curiousity, what's the reason for the nappa leather steering for the heated option? I believe the S class has a wood steering wheel with the heated option.

GregTR

Wood is not a good head conductor and it's probably harder to put a heating element under the wood veneer. My other guess is that the intersection of the set of people who want wood and the set that wants heated wheel is pretty small and not worth the engineering and tooling effort. On the S-class since all W222 comes with wooden wheel the tooling is more justified. Also note that you can't order sport wheel with flat bottom with heat so it's probably the latter reason about the subset being too small to worth the cost. These are just my speculations of course...

telemakhos

I'll have to look this up but I vaguely remember hearing that some Lexus models have heated steering wheels even with the wood/leather combo.

pepmyster

My MKX has heated steering and has a wood veneer.

Johnny Rad

Yes, but the heating element is only under the leather portions - not the wood.

pepmyster

Very true, still don't understand why this type of extreme high level of a car doesn't automatically give heated steering. Not that this car will ever see snow, just saying.

Jason B

Which is stupid. Other manufacturer's have heated the wood for years... If it makes you feel better only now, for 2018, does the new S class heat the WOOD and the LEATHER if you get the heated steering wheel option. Before, it only was the leather, which is pointless when you have a wood/leather wheel, and the leather is always where you don't grab the wheel at!

Zavato

FWIW wood is a very poor conductor of heat. I once lived in a house that in one room had a wooden decorative radiator cover. It had to go as with it in place the room never adequately warmed up.

Some years back I had an Audi A6. I had a wood/leather steering wheel. A heated wheel was an option, but only with a full leather wheel.

Bklyn

You're killing me.

KEY08

Holy 6 year necro bump. You’re killing me!

swhme

Sorry, you can’t have my ‘14 heated steering wheel + distronic stalk (w/ rear wiper). That’s my unicorn!

😂

DFWdude

I would not give up my fat, wooden steering wheel for all the heat in the world. That's my contribution to this ancient thread.

pierrejoliat

Well, my wife loves it, in fact when I got the new '12 E350 and tried to take the '07 S550 and give my wife the new car, she said no. Because of the heated steering wheel. So when I bought the '13 heated steering wheel was a must have option. I don't care for it much, half the time I forget I have it.

DFWdude

I thought I read further up that the heated steering wheel was not an available option in the US?

Oh well, still wouldn't have it... don't need to be reminded of an overcooked car in the middle of the summer.

pierrejoliat

[img]blob:https://mbworld.org/07098b34-d112-48f7-8001-bf774209abd4[/img]

pierrejoliat

I also got this steering wheel, I believe it's part of my "AMG package", wheels, steering wheel, rear air dam and something called a "blackout kit" which I have no clue what that means.

bmwpowere36m3

One of the E550s I looked had the headed steering wheel option (leather 4 spoke) and rear entertainment screens

pierrejoliat

Ok, now I have to ask. Does anyone else have a steering wheel like mine? post #23?