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2021 heated steering wheel Discussion thread

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Speak to Tesla again and ask them to tell you what left body controller (VCLeft) you have in your car, per your VIN. I expect it's going to be 1567455-00-C or 1567455-00-D.

Once you've got that come back and I should be able to provide some information for you. Suffice to say that there is an internal document/process for activating the heated steering wheel on cars that can accept it (I'm guessing it's used for cars that turn up now without it active for whatever reason).
I'm planning on going to the SC next week, fingers crossed
 
Kinda of a dead issue anyway.
Some of us would like to be able to get a heated steering wheel work on older cars.

Sadly, the more I look into this the less likely it seems that it will be possible. Originally I was convinced that all of the necessary hardware was in the steering wheel itself, but after managing to get my local service centre to try and activate the 2021 wheel fitted to my 2020 M3P (as if it was a 2021 car that turned up with the option not enabled by mistake), they spent 3.5 hours and didn't get anywhere. They told me that they were able to modify the gateway configuration to tell the car that it had a heated steering wheel present, but the option to switch it on never appeared on the car screen.

Their conclusion was that there was other hardware in the car that was different. They speculated that it could be a revised left body controller, or harness, or both. After going home dejected I did some research and found out that there are several left body controller part numbers, presumably for different model years.

Screenshot 2022-01-04 at 14.28.26.png


The long and short of it is that the current body controller fitted to 2021 cars is electrically different to the ones that came before it (including the one I have fitted in my car). The connectors from the harness that attach to it are physically different, so at the very least if this part needs to be changed then the harness does too, together with whatever connects at the other ends of it, which presumably has different connectors as well. A pretty significant job.

I have been following someone who managed to brute force the gateway configuration to get the heated wheel control to appear on the screen, but it still doesn't work. He has speculated that there is some sanity check of the left body controller that stops the necessary control messages from getting through.

My local service centre proactively messaged me over the holidays to tell me that they are still looking into this and will be in contact shortly, but I'm not holding out much hope of them being able to progress it any further.
 
Some of us would like to be able to get a heated steering wheel work on older cars.

Sadly, the more I look into this the less likely it seems that it will be possible. Originally I was convinced that all of the necessary hardware was in the steering wheel itself, but after managing to get my local service centre to try and activate the 2021 wheel fitted to my 2020 M3P (as if it was a 2021 car that turned up with the option not enabled by mistake), they spent 3.5 hours and didn't get anywhere. They told me that they were able to modify the gateway configuration to tell the car that it had a heated steering wheel present, but the option to switch it on never appeared on the car screen.

Their conclusion was that there was other hardware in the car that was different. They speculated that it could be a revised left body controller, or harness, or both. After going home dejected I did some research and found out that there are several left body controller part numbers, presumably for different model years.

View attachment 751770

The long and short of it is that the current body controller fitted to 2021 cars is electrically different to the ones that came before it (including the one I have fitted in my car). The connectors from the harness that attach to it are physically different, so at the very least if this part needs to be changed then the harness does too, together with whatever connects at the other ends of it, which presumably has different connectors as well. A pretty significant job.

I have been following someone who managed to brute force the gateway configuration to get the heated wheel control to appear on the screen, but it still doesn't work. He has speculated that there is some sanity check of the left body controller that stops the necessary control messages from getting through.

My local service centre proactively messaged me over the holidays to tell me that they are still looking into this and will be in contact shortly, but I'm not holding out much hope of them being able to progress it any further.
Wow, you have a very nice service center.
 
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Yeah I’m very grateful to them for trying. They told me on the phone that they had an internal process for activating the heated steering wheel on cars with the required hardware, and did I want to bring my car over for them to try it on it (I was told it couldn’t be done remotely). I didn’t need to be asked twice!

There were 3 service techs involved and to be honest I think they were really keen to try it, as a sort of challenge. I wasn’t charged anything, and to be honest I was surprised when they recently opened a service request proactively and told me they’re still working on it.
 
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Some of us would like to be able to get a heated steering wheel work on older cars.

Sadly, the more I look into this the less likely it seems that it will be possible. Originally I was convinced that all of the necessary hardware was in the steering wheel itself, but after managing to get my local service centre to try and activate the 2021 wheel fitted to my 2020 M3P (as if it was a 2021 car that turned up with the option not enabled by mistake), they spent 3.5 hours and didn't get anywhere. They told me that they were able to modify the gateway configuration to tell the car that it had a heated steering wheel present, but the option to switch it on never appeared on the car screen.

Their conclusion was that there was other hardware in the car that was different. They speculated that it could be a revised left body controller, or harness, or both. After going home dejected I did some research and found out that there are several left body controller part numbers, presumably for different model years.

View attachment 751770

The long and short of it is that the current body controller fitted to 2021 cars is electrically different to the ones that came before it (including the one I have fitted in my car). The connectors from the harness that attach to it are physically different, so at the very least if this part needs to be changed then the harness does too, together with whatever connects at the other ends of it, which presumably has different connectors as well. A pretty significant job.

I have been following someone who managed to brute force the gateway configuration to get the heated wheel control to appear on the screen, but it still doesn't work. He has speculated that there is some sanity check of the left body controller that stops the necessary control messages from getting through.

My local service centre proactively messaged me over the holidays to tell me that they are still looking into this and will be in contact shortly, but I'm not holding out much hope of them being able to progress it any further.

I hope you get rewarded for your persistence! Especially in cars before the heat pump, it's more range efficient to get by without heated air by switching on just seat warmers + heated steering. I've had both cars and the drain on battery when using heat was noticeable.
 
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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.
Hi!
I own a 2020 Model 3 and my steering wheel got replaced under warranty to the new with the heater in it. I asked them directly, if they can activate the setting and they told me it is 100% possible and the changed that setting "Steering Wheel Heating Enabled (115): DISABLED" to "ENABLED". Unfortunately the car never showed the button to activate it. Even after a reset and everything the car never showed the option. After that, they told me they were sorry and that there is one control unit missing but they dont retrofit this.
 
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There’s another setting to tell the car that there is a heated steering wheel fitted. This one is protected and can’t be just changed by techs, although it can be done by service centres with the right script.

Both options set properly will make the button appear on the UI and in the app, but the heated steering wheel still won’t work. Pre-2021 cars don’t have a compatible left body controller (at least). The car won’t allow the wheel to work (won’t send the LIN commands to it) without the right hardware fitted.
 
Hi!
I own a 2020 Model 3 and my steering wheel got replaced under warranty to the new with the heater in it. I asked them directly, if they can activate the setting and they told me it is 100% possible and the changed that setting "Steering Wheel Heating Enabled (115): DISABLED" to "ENABLED". Unfortunately the car never showed the button to activate it. Even after a reset and everything the car never showed the option. After that, they told me they were sorry and that there is one control unit missing but they dont retrofit this.

we just need an aftermarket part which adds perhaps a small switch to the steering wheel.... they heat up so quickly no need to use it via the app/software. It makes a world of difference in colder climates though. you can literally disable the heater if you are nicely cocooned in your seat and your hands are warm.

When it gets cold here in Queensland (i.e. 0C at night) the car is still warm from daytime (16-20C) driving so no need to use the heater at all. but the hands do get cold.
 
I came across this reddit post a few months ago where OP tied into the CANBus at the steering wheel to read the heated seat messages and ran some simple commands to power the heating element wire at some scale factor matching the heated seats. He had somewhat success with it (couldn't get it really hot), but seems overly complicated. Turning on the heated seats in the app would also turn on the heated element in the steering wheel.

I considered doing something similar by using a wireless LED driver instead like this https://www.amazon.com/RV-LIGHTING-WS-01DC-Wireless-Controller/dp/B01LOIZ3Q2/ and having it wirelessly control it, but I don't have the working space at home to actually sit there and wire it up.
 
Before you EVER tie anything into the Teslas battery or computer check to see if the Service Center can add the option or changes that you want. I know that you can replace the old center console with the new one and the Service Center will reprogram the Keycard reader. A year a half ago I had the Service Center add the external speaker (185 plus tax) the wiring was already in my Model Y. They maybe able to install a heated steering wheel, but it would require changing the wiring from it to the computer...
 
Before you EVER tie anything into the Teslas battery or computer check to see if the Service Center can add the option or changes that you want. I know that you can replace the old center console with the new one and the Service Center will reprogram the Keycard reader. A year a half ago I had the Service Center add the external speaker (185 plus tax) the wiring was already in my Model Y. They maybe able to install a heated steering wheel, but it would require changing the wiring from it to the computer...

interstingly they have in the past refused to activate software for cars which did have a heated steering wheel but not unlocked.

for older cars its not possible to upgrade as the car would need a different wireing harness. this is in so far frustrating as the existing one has a wire which can be used to power the heating element but is just missing the wire going to the computer. so a switch is all thats needed.

theres someone here who actually did use the wire and connect it to the heated steering wheel and then wired the other end to a rasberry pi which would energize the wire depending on the input recieved from the heated seat for the driver.
 
interstingly they have in the past refused to activate software for cars which did have a heated steering wheel but not unlocked.

for older cars its not possible to upgrade as the car would need a different wireing harness. this is in so far frustrating as the existing one has a wire which can be used to power the heating element but is just missing the wire going to the computer. so a switch is all thats needed.

theres someone here who actually did use the wire and connect it to the heated steering wheel and then wired the other end to a rasberry pi which would energize the wire depending on the input recieved from the heated seat for the driver.
The issue I have with doing that is this, everything and I literally mean everything in the Tesla is interconnected. Tire, wheels, suspension parts etc... use what you wish, but the way in which everything electrical is tied together attaching anything to the system could have a cause and effect in a different location in the car...
 
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The issue I have with doing that is this, everything and I literally mean everything in the Tesla is interconnected. Tire, wheels, suspension parts etc... use what you wish, but the way in which everything electrical is tied together attaching anything to the system could have a cause and effect in a different location in the car...

no, that wire is designed to be used to heat the steering wheel.

with it all being unix like the opposite question is why it is not possible to simply upgrade part of the harness.... thats the real question.