gordongl450

Does anyone have any technical specifications on how well a heated steering wheel should work in a 2008 GL.

I have a 2008 ML with MB Tex and a heated steering wheel and when I use it in the winter it's great! Gets warm enough that it feels good on the hands.

My wife has a 2008 GL with MB Tex and a heated steering wheel that she tells me she doesn't even try to use because it doesn't seem to do anything. She was correct, I drove her truck to test it on a cold day and I could not feel anything getting warm. I did this test prior to bringing the truck in for the first service because I wanted them to check out the heated steering wheel at the time of the service. When we dropped off the SA turned on the heated steering wheel and agreed he did not feel anything happening. Well they have had the truck for 2 weeks and it is still not working and they are completely stumped. They replaced the steering wheel and it did not improve. Some head technician form MB told them to replace the steering module (?) and they did that but it did not improve. They sent out a (?) repair bulletin to all other dealers to see if anyone had repaired a similar problem and what was the solution, but there was no reports of this problem being reported.

To give you some data, I used a surface temperature sticker on my ML steering wheel and when I turned on the steering wheel it heated to a peak of 98 degrees F and then dropped down to 96 degrees.

On my wife's GL, using whatever temp measuring device they use, they are getting a peak of 84 degrees F. They tested another heated steering wheel on the lot and got a peak temp og 90 degrees.

So basically MB gave up. They think it's working but they're not sure. I guess they don't know what the peak temp is supposed to be. They know that it is a different specification for a MB Tex heated steering wheel versus a leather heated steering wheel. They're giving us the truck back and said they will monitor to see if that repair bulletin they sent out ever gets a response.

Anyone have this problem? Any ideas?

Thanks

Brocktoon

That is odd, because my GL has a leather wheel, and an MB Tex interior, maybe it is a Canada spec thing.

Anyhow, my heated wheel is just barely warm. I doubt you would feel it through gloves. 84-90 degrees sounds about like what I'm getting. 98 degrees sound uncomfortable, but it is closer to what I expected.

Comfy_Couch

Isn't that pretty much normal body temp?

gordongl450

Yes, 98.6 degrees F is normal body core temp. So I figure on a cold day your hands are slightly cooler than that. So if the steering wheel came up to 96 to 98 degrees you would feel that nicely and that is the way my 2008 ML is.

I picked up my wife's GL yesterday. It was about 60 degrees outside temp. I tried the streering wheel after the (?) repair. It actually feels like it is doing something now even though it is not as warm as my ML. Maybe they did fix it and maybe it is up to specifications now.

So I think it is better than when I dropped it off. Will wait to test it on another colder day.