mu_brian

Quick question about ventilated seats...in the picture below, are the vertical light strips circled in red indicative of ventilated seats? I was under the impression that these light up when the cooling feature is activated, and cars without ventilated seats do not have them. Thanks in advance.

ob1kenobi

On the switches right next to the strips you mentioned, if you press the top
it activates the heated seat feature (heater) while the button cools the seats (I think the air comes from the auto/AC vents) during hot weather.

I love that option. It helps quite a bit if you have the car sitting under the blaring sun. Same goes for cold weather, it heats up quick.

mu_brian

Thanks, but what do those strips (circled in red) do then? Do they light up?

saintz

I've never seen these in person on a W210, but here is my understanding:

The ventilation has 3 levels. The heat has 2 levels. That's a total of 5 levels (which match the 5 LED lights in that bar). The 2 heat modes use 2 red LEDs. The 3 vent modes use 3 blue LEDs. When you push the vent portion of the button (not sure whether it's the top or bottom) it should change the number of blue LEDs lit: I think it goes:
0 -> 3 -> 2 -> 1 -> 0 (basically off, high, mid, low, off)

The heat does the same, allowing you to "scroll" between off, low, and high.

Note that the ventilation isn't air conditioned. It's simply vented. As I understand, there are holes at the back of the seat which draw ambient air and then blow it out through the perforated leather. I've read that it actually sucks air into the seat, but I believe it actually blows it out the seat. So, it doesn't really "cool" you with A/C. But it does blow air over you to keep your shirt from getting damp. You can also use this feature in the winter with the heat option together to blow heated air against you (more effective than just using the seat heater alone).

mu_brian

Great, thanks for the clarification. So I presume cars without these two LED strips do not have ventilated seats.

Bellefonte

Cars without the LED strips next to the button will not have ventilated seats.
If the car has heated seats, the on/off/level indicator LEDs will be built into the heated seat button.
The ventilated seats blow ambient air out, onto the passenger.

Hope this helps.

mu_brian

Perfect, thanks

markmetzger

when you push the top of the button next to the strip 2 red lights should come on seat heat push it one more time and it will go to one red light
when you push the bottom of the button you will get 3 blue lights at the bottom of the strip push again goes to two again to one agin off for seat air
i have this on my 2002

kuhdlie

the leds on my driver's side aren't lighting up, does anyone know if there is a fuse for this or i need to get a new switch/panel? thanks a lot.

saintz

Does the heat and ventilation work? Is it just the lights that don't work, or does the function not work either?

kuhdlie

the lights are not coming on, and both the ventilated and heated seat options are not working, on the passenger seat everything is ok.

saintz

There are a lot of options... broken button, control unit, fuse. I think that both seats share the same fuse, but I'm not sure. This would indicate the issue is not with a blown fuse. Maybe someone here more knowledgeable about the control unit can chime in.

kuhdlie

thanks for the input, hope it's nothing worse than a blown fuse.

does anyone know where i can a diagram of the fuses for my 2003 s600? manual says it's in the trunk toolkit, but i don't see it. thanks a lot.

saintz

Try the S class forum, it's probably a different location from the E class (this forum).

Normally fuses can be under the hood, on the driver's side dash (where the door closes onto the dash), under the rear seat, and/or in the trunk. You may find different diagrams in each area.