jtc3400

I test drove a 2014 E63 AMG S today. While I loved its power and engine sound, I was deeply disappointed by the cooled seats. I had them at max for several minutes and felt nothing... like, they were no cooler than the seats in the Camry SE I am renting at the moment. (they felt great comfort wise but I felt zero cooling) The salesman assured me they worked and I said they either did not, or were pathetic, because I sure as hell noticed them in a 45k Dodge Scat Pack.

Anyway, whats the deal? Were these broken if I could not feel cooling after several minutes or does the cooled seat factor in this car just suck? This an issue I care about a lot, I like having a cool butt and lower back, no other way to say it.

Wickdwagon

Likely nothing wrong with them, I have been pretty underwhelmed by the performance of ours as well.

E55Dimon

They're all this way. Wonder if Benz did it as a precaution for health reasons. Anyway, this is a project I'm considering doing as well next spring, w211 guys have upgraded their seat fans so I don't see why it's not possible in the w212.

jtc3400

Thanks for the replies, what health reasons would there be? When I said I felt nothing, I am not exaggerating, I mean nothing at all. I turned both the passenger and driver seat to max cool, give it a few min, and felt no cooling or air at all. The Dodge didn't blow me away but at least I felt the cool. When i heard about cooled seats years ago, I imagined it would be amazing. They are all underwhelming but these are utterly worthless. Does it suck in cool air from the cabin or do they have their own cooling system? What would be an approx price on HIGHLY upgraded fans? I don't care if they made noise I just want a cool seat.

E55Dimon

Haha I completely agree with you, the cooled seats SUCK. My other cars with them blow all the benzes out of the water. Health reasons - you know if you sit on a cold stone too long your kidneys can get a "cold" which is extremely painful..? Just a thought. I don't think Benz made them suck for nothing.
My buddy did it on his E55:
https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...seat-fans.html

Chappy

IIRC, the seats are not cooled. They are merely ventilated - temp is going to be whatever the internal temp is inside the car. You'll get the fan at three different speeds.

The heating feature works as expected.

Patric

Two ways of cooling depending on the manufacturer and model.

One blows only ambient air so not much better than the feeling you get with your hand out the window driving down the road.

The other is refrigerated air using the same technology the portable coolers have that you can plug in to your 12 volt outlet.

The power of the fans also has some effect.

PeterUbers

One way to help is to direct the rear vents laterally towards the doors so that when they are blowing ice cold air the i takes in the seats get a direct jet of cold air to source for the seats ...

You could theoretically create a tubing system to direct that rear cold air even more directly to the i takes

jvakos

Side question Peter, do your rear vents blow with the same force as the front middle air vents??

The fronts air vents blow air super strong when on 2 or 3 level but the rear vents if opened up max all the way blow minimally (equivalent of the front blowing air on fan level 1). Dealer said it was normal, but anyone sitting in the rear seats on a hot day continually ask if they work right.

PeterUbers

mine blow strong in rear ... maybe 80% strength of front at any level ... I’ll double check tonight and report back

chiromikey

The seats don't cool or even "blow" air, they pull air from the seating surface and expel it out the back. So it won't matter where your rear ac vents are aimed. They won't cool you but they do a pretty good job at preventing you from having a sweaty back/butt/clothes.

nikon

👍🏻 Well said!

jtc3400

Thank you for clearing that up. In that case, this is one area Mercs can learn learn from Dodge... I felt the cooling in seconds, highly preferable on a hot day.

chiromikey

I agree that the ventilated seats are disappointing when compared to ac cooled seats but they're far better than nothing at all. When you consider how many other features our seats have compared to Dodge or any other cooled seat, the trade off still weighs in our favor.

steinjr

How can you identify if you have cooling seats vs ventilated seats?

chiromikey

If you have a Mercedes they're ventilated

steinjr

Ventilated it is then. Thanks.

PeterUbers

Wonder if you can reverse the polarity on the fans and make them “blow”

chiromikey

If they're anything like the W211 seat fans (and there's no reason they wouldn't be), yes.

24Hours

Beat me to it... the air is moved out of the chair... I find them mildly cooling at best, but certainly better than non-vented seats. I have never been uncomfortable in my '14 due to lack of cooling. If anything, I have not found another A/C + seat system to be more comforting within short periods than those in the W212 AMG.

Good luck and get out of the Camry.

ajs76

My parents E500 from 2003 had ventilated seats and I don't think that the design has improved since then if I'm honest.

My Cayenne is MUCH more noticeable.

PeterUbers

I confirmed that my rear vents are much weaker than the front ... sorry to give different info earlier.

Astolfo

+1 ventilated by 2 computer fans... another way for MB to make $1500 out of an $8 part

jvakos

Thanks Peter for the confirmation and checking that. glad the fronts blow like crazy when on max and the rear cabin cools quickly, as unfortunately it seems that we're stuck with rears that barely flow

PeterUbers

anytime! I guess all of this just .... sucks