My first Tesla is ready but, I just heard the car doesn't come with a heated steering wheel. I live in the north east and have had one for 8 years. I must have. Anyone know if this might be something they will add? If so, I can hold off for 9 months.
Model 3 owner here, picked up my car in Nov of '18 and have been waiting for a heated steering wheel. I believe Elon tweeted that a heated steering wheel for the 3 is not in the works. I doubt one is coming for the Y if it didn't already come with one.
Tesla lists the heated steering wheel as one of the major differentiation points between the premium lineup (S/X) and the entry level models (3/Y). As such, this is unlikely to happen. Every now and then a rumor will pop up - just like for the air suspension - but nothing has materialized to date. On a related note, also thought I would miss a heated steering wheel dearly. However, with the ability to preheat the car via Siri, I've not thought about it a single time - and yes, winters are cold where I live - so it might not end up being as of a deal as you think now.
What commands do you give to siri to connect to the car, I am an android user thinking about switching if the iphone 12 is a big jump.
Agreed, the heated steering wheel is only really useful if you get into your car and it is freezing cold in the morning. With the Tesla's scheduled departure time, or simply the ability to press a preheat button in the app before you leave in the morning, it will be nice and toasty in the car before you leave.
You need a third party control app to make Siri shortcuts work - I use Remote for Tesla. I have a shortcut for the “max defrost” feature that’s tied to the “preheat the car” voice command. So all I have to do is say “hey Siri, preheat the car”. I’m sure you can accomplish the same thing on Android, if anything it should be more flexible.
You can pre-heat the car, so a heated steering wheel really is meaningless. Our Lexus had this, but I guess our choices were... 1. Get into a cold car where steering wheel and seats warm up quickly, or 2. Get into a warm car where everything is the temperature we want it at
For some of us with cold hands a heated steering wheel is directed heat to the only part of my body that needs heat. For my hands to be comfortable the car would have to be unbearably hot for the rest of my body. I rarely run the cabin heater in my car, because I just do not need it for most of me to be comfortable. I leave the steering wheel heater on when driving my X about 6 months out of the year. So everyone that says you just have to preheat the car please understand that does not work for some of us. I do not know how many that may be, but I know I am one of them. Gloves are far more helpful to me than preheating the car, but they are not as useful or comfortable as a heated steering wheel.
Pre-heating gets you most of the way there (the interior is not freezing cold when you get in), but I do love my wife's Model X heated steering wheel now & then...
I just spent $15 on one of those heated steering wheel covers that plugs into the cigarette lighter. Ugly, but it works.
You can redirect the air flow toward the steering wheel. Also I found some touch screen gloves which have a special coating material allowing to use smartphones or the central Tesla display.
Do yourself a favor and move to an area of the country that isn’t miserable to live in and where it isn’t gray and rainy/snowy/icy half the time.
I take it most people here havent lived in cold climate enough. Haha anyways heat steering wheel is nice and it is a way for tesla to extract more money from you. Also keep in mind with climate change it is only going to get hotter so maybe in a few years all this heating might not be needed.
I have heated steering wheels in other vehicles. The one in my '18 Ford Expedition is the best of the them all, better than the Model X. But I rarely use it. Has to be below -10°F before I tend to use it. But I think I've spent too many years working outside in the cold and I'm just numb to it. Heh. My wife loves it though. She's a bit disappointed that the Y does not have it. Other than our Mini Clubman, which is predominantly our daughter's daily driver, all our vehicles have heated steering wheels. It's a pretty basic feature these days. I get why people want it, but it's not a deal breaker for us. I would much rather see heated seats in the 2nd row as our X and other vehicles have or proper air conditioned/ cooled seats. I'm trying to wrap my head around why a heated steering wheel would be a "premium feature" though. I'm convinced the engineers and testers at Tesla don't run these cars (Model X and S included) in truly harsh weather environments. This is evident with the wipers, especially on the X. They handle brilliantly in snow and on other bad weather conditioned surfaces, but I have a few real nit-picking issues with how our X deals with wipers, lights, and AC/ Heat and Defrost with heavy rain, snow, etc..
My last 3 Volvo’s have had heated steering wheels, it will be missed. But prior to 2015, I’ve never had a car with a heated wheel. I’m sure I’ll manage, I have a lot of nice spring skiing gloves I can wear.
Thanks for the feedback. I agree with Sparrow. I use mine as a nice heat source and usually don't turn the heat on. The heated seats and wheel is usually enough. It doesn't seem like it should be a premium feature. And on a car at this price level, should be included. It was a 500 extra on our Honda. I can wait till the fall. Maybe it will be added. Or I will get the touch screen gloves. Thanks everyone.
I'd be willing to pay $500 to get it as an option if they offered it...but I agree it should be included with the premium package.
The lack of steering wheel is going to be a shortcoming in Norway. My bet is that it will be available in 2021 or 2022. I'm not aware of EV's that don't have it (except iMiEV and old pre2013 Leaf).