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2021 heated steering wheel Discussion thread
- Thread starter 808BOB
- Start date
I have to admit that I kind of hate the idea that there's hardware in the vehicle that you bought that you can't use because it's being intentionally crippled by software. The expense to manufacture it has already happened, and it seems bizarre to keep a customer who purchased a car containing that hardware from using it.
If the implication is that it's more economical and profitable to manufacture in a way that includes the extra hardware and there's some advantage to differentiate tiers of one's product line, at least allow the customer to pay extra to enable the hardware, as is the case with the rear heated seats: treat it as an aftermarket feature.
I'm a little salty about this because my last two cars (one a PHEV, one an EV) both had heated steering wheels - and on electric vehicles its the most efficient way to warm up.
If the implication is that it's more economical and profitable to manufacture in a way that includes the extra hardware and there's some advantage to differentiate tiers of one's product line, at least allow the customer to pay extra to enable the hardware, as is the case with the rear heated seats: treat it as an aftermarket feature.
I'm a little salty about this because my last two cars (one a PHEV, one an EV) both had heated steering wheels - and on electric vehicles its the most efficient way to warm up.
Gauss Guzzler
Safety Score = 42
There's not much to be salty about, you bought the car knowing that it didn't have a heated wheel.
There are a number of parts involved - the wheel, the wiring, and maybe some driver circuitry. It's possible that you only have some of these components. Or perhaps some of your components were early production models with flaws that were later revised. Or perhaps creating and maintaining the software flag and educating all of their service techs and customer service staff of the upgrade is just not a high priority for them. Why would it be? You'd just be clogging up their overloaded service center for what? $70 worth of labor revenue?
There are a number of parts involved - the wheel, the wiring, and maybe some driver circuitry. It's possible that you only have some of these components. Or perhaps some of your components were early production models with flaws that were later revised. Or perhaps creating and maintaining the software flag and educating all of their service techs and customer service staff of the upgrade is just not a high priority for them. Why would it be? You'd just be clogging up their overloaded service center for what? $70 worth of labor revenue?
I’d like to know too, as I don’t wanna pay the £300 for the rear seat heater and not have the steering wheel too… as thats really what I want
Ah, but there's the rub… I haven't bought the car yet. I'm considering buying the car. And I'm comparing features with other EVs, and Tesla makes that a bit squishy, because it's a case of "will they or won't they?"
I have to assume they won't until they do.
But there are articles like this one which indicates that all the parts are there and that it will be available as a paid update soon.
The article was written in April.
And this article states:
I'd think it'd be a greater service burden to ship a wide array of hardware configurations and have owners who are uncertain about what they have…
You (and anyone else in your position) would do very (very very very) well to only buy the car based on what it does RIGHT NOW, not on what you THINK.. "Might" be active later. This goes for ALL the car features, such as heated wheels, FSD, etc. Buy or dont based on what it does RIGHT NOW. If it doesnt have a feature you consider to be critical, whether that is "promised in a future firmware update" or "all the hardware is there" do not buy based on that.
Buy based on whats working, now (or dont, and move onto another choice). You will be much happier if you do that.
That's my ethos: I always purchase on the basis of current features.
As I said: "I have to assume that they won't until they do."
Having said that, it can sometimes be difficult to ascertain at any given time what the current feature set of a given Tesla model is: it's constantly in flux, and can vary geographically.
Then, you should fully be expecting SR+ teslas to NOT have heated steering wheels now, and not be expecting to ever have that feature in that vehicle. Based on "purchasing based on current features", that should be your expectation. Whether the hardware is or is not in the vehicle already, or people may or may not figure out how to unlock it, or tesla may or may not offer something in the future for that vehicle, is irrelevant to "right now" which is "it doesnt have it".
I dont follow this thread closely, so am assuming we are talking about new vehicles. If we are talking about used ones, then yes, you are somewhat rolling the dice there.
Gauss Guzzler
Safety Score = 42
Ah, some early 2021 LR/P models were shipped with inactive wheel heaters prior to the feature announcement and I mistakenly assumed you had bought one of those.
Tesla is deliberately coy about their feature set because it allows them to make rapid improvements to either the product or the profit margin without being hassled by the marketing (or legal) team. But all Teslas come standard with the best powertrain humanity has ever created so if you're comparing feature lists against other brands, you're missing the forest for the trees.
Tesla is deliberately coy about their feature set because it allows them to make rapid improvements to either the product or the profit margin without being hassled by the marketing (or legal) team. But all Teslas come standard with the best powertrain humanity has ever created so if you're comparing feature lists against other brands, you're missing the forest for the trees.
Yeah, the headlight lottery was just that. I drove into the service center to pick it up on December 31st (in the dark) just hoping and wishing it had the upgraded headlights. I lucked out big time.
To be fair, I knew 100% the M3P I ordered in September 2020 didn't come with a heated steering wheel, they just released the 'refresh' and no heated steering wheel. Then the rumor mill cranked up (and living in MN) a heated wheel is a MUST have up here. Easily the best way to heat yourself up in a cold EV. If Tesla came back and said, yep your car doesn't have 'xyz' part and we could add it for multiple hundreds of dollars, I would say no problemo, hook that ish up. But no such luck.
I don't buy that the car doesn't have the wiring for a heated wheel.
From what I can tell, having fitted a heated wheel to my 2020 M3P (heating doesn't work), the wiring between the wheel and the car is identical, i.e. the same number and configuration of wires. It's already been established that there is a revised steering wheel controller inside the wheel (behind the bottom segment) and of course the heating element & blue connector for them, so the working theory - and the logical one - is that the required hardware/loom already exists behind the steering column.
I managed to get a Tesla service tech to show me the list of options the car had, in terms of the gateway configuration, and one of those options said, verbatim:
"Steering Wheel Heating Enabled (115): DISABLED"
So, it seems at least the car recognised that a heated steering wheel was present, but deactivated (like 2021 SR+s). It's possible this setting appears on all cars, of course.
I'm cautiously optimistic.. it really depends on how (when) Tesla offer an OTA upgrade for 2021 SR+ owners to unlock theirs, as was stated as coming back in April.
From what I can tell, having fitted a heated wheel to my 2020 M3P (heating doesn't work), the wiring between the wheel and the car is identical, i.e. the same number and configuration of wires. It's already been established that there is a revised steering wheel controller inside the wheel (behind the bottom segment) and of course the heating element & blue connector for them, so the working theory - and the logical one - is that the required hardware/loom already exists behind the steering column.
I managed to get a Tesla service tech to show me the list of options the car had, in terms of the gateway configuration, and one of those options said, verbatim:
"Steering Wheel Heating Enabled (115): DISABLED"
So, it seems at least the car recognised that a heated steering wheel was present, but deactivated (like 2021 SR+s). It's possible this setting appears on all cars, of course.
I'm cautiously optimistic.. it really depends on how (when) Tesla offer an OTA upgrade for 2021 SR+ owners to unlock theirs, as was stated as coming back in April.
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