My SR+ seems to have rear heated seat hardware

[Jacobly]

After watching a model 3 teardown showing how easy it was to remove the rear bottom seat; I decided to pop my SR+ rear seat up and see if it had wires connected to it like the Model 3 with PUP interior in the video had. Sure enough, mine seems to have the same wires connected to a harness on both sides of the seat. I assume the my rear seats have heating elements but they are software locked.

Here is my question, I know Tesla has software locked hardware that was delivered with cars in the past, like ambient lighting in the Model X, but have they ever offered a software unlock for this type of hardware in the past? Obviously, autopilot is a software unlock, but what about minor interior features like this?

It also got me thinking about the Tesla Network cars having this feature... I would think Tesla could see the value of heated rear seats as a differentiator for their service over other ride sharing platforms. If I put my car into the Tesla Network service, would my car suddenly have rear heated seats?

I suppose it's entirely possible I have a very early production (March 2019) version of this trim and they may stop installing rear seats with heating coils, but just thought I would get other people's thoughts on this?

 

[nayr14]

I wouldn't be surprised if they do offer it as an upgrade, it would be very easy to implement via software. They are already selling the HomeLink upgrade for the SR+ and that requires new hardware and a software flag change.

 

[Lostb0y]

I wonder if they will. They don’t seem to be jumping at the bit. I’m also wanting premium connectivity. It’s said on their website it was coming as an option on the touchscreen later this year but it could have been there for years saying the same thing.

 

[Maaz]

Don’t hold your breath. Probably won’t happen.

 

[Leafdriver333]

I want faster acceleration unlock on my SR+.

 

[Kilotango74]

It's not surprising that the hardware is there. First it makes it very easy to manufacture when practically every item on every car is the same and you don't have to look at a spec sheet for that particular build to see if is supposed to have heated seats or not. If you remember when the Model 3 first came out people were speculating if it had heated rear seats or not. The hardware was there, just not activated on the software side. Tesla seems to do this a lot.

 

[Lostb0y]

I love my car, it really is the best purchase I ever made. The worst thing about it is the broken promises or stated and unknowns.

 

[Duf67]

After watching a model 3 teardown showing how easy it was to remove the rear bottom seat; I decided to pop my SR+ rear seat up and see if it had wires connected to it like the Model 3 with PUP interior in the video had. Sure enough, mine seems to have the same wires connected to a harness on both sides of the seat. I assume the my rear seats have heating elements but they are software locked.

Here is my question, I know Tesla has software locked hardware that was delivered with cars in the past, like ambient lighting in the Model X, but have they ever offered a software unlock for this type of hardware in the past? Obviously, autopilot is a software unlock, but what about minor interior features like this?

It also got me thinking about the Tesla Network cars having this feature... I would think Tesla could see the value of heated rear seats as a differentiator for their service over other ride sharing platforms. If I put my car into the Tesla Network service, would my car suddenly have rear heated seats?

I suppose it's entirely possible I have a very early production (March 2019) version of this trim and they may stop installing rear seats with heating coils, but just thought I would get other people's thoughts on this?

Same deal with the ambient lighting, all the hardware is there, just missing a checkbox in the software config...

 

[M3BlueGeorgia]

I wonder if they will. They don’t seem to be jumping at the bit. I’m also wanting premium connectivity. It’s said on their website it was coming as an option on the touchscreen later this year but it could have been there for years saying the same thing.

In mid-July you will start to see the people with one year of free premium connectivity see their first year expire.

Tesla gave lifetime free connectivity to people who ordered prior to end of June 2018, so we are about 2 months away from the first anniversary of deliveries to people with one year of free premium connectivity.

There were estimates of $100 pa, but Tesla now have a lot of actual data on usage of monthly bandwidth, so they should be able to compute a price. I think they should charge $20/month

 

[TomB985]

That's awesome! Did you by chance get any photos?

I love the thought that we may be of upgrade this kind of thing in the future. It also makes for an easy aftermarket upgrade for those with a little wiry experience.

On a side note, I think there's entirely too much butthurt regarding option packages and features that we didn't pay for. I paid for an SR plus, and got exactly what I ordered. Being upset that somebody else got more than they ordered seems a bit over-the-top for me.

 

[ngogas]

You get what you pay for. I'm sure a lot of features are the same; just software lock as it doesn't cost much to mass produce modules.

 

[ebmcs03]

Hack the software!

 

[willow_hiller]

Hack the software!

Or hack the hardware. All you need is to tap into the power supply and add a rocker-switch. Boom, heated rear-seats.

 

[Knightshade]

In mid-July you will start to see the people with one year of free premium connectivity see their first year expire.

Tesla gave lifetime free connectivity to people who ordered prior to end of June 2018, so we are about 2 months away from the first anniversary of deliveries to people with one year of free premium connectivity.

There were estimates of $100 pa, but Tesla now have a lot of actual data on usage of monthly bandwidth, so they should be able to compute a price. I think they should charge $20/month

To be fair, the 4 years of free data for S owners expired a while ago (January 2018 for the very first owners impacted I think) and Tesla has done 0 about them and they all still have free connectivity still....so I dunno that I'd hold my breath on the July thing.

It's weird- this is pretty much free money Tesla has been leaving on the table for almost a year and a half now with the S for example.

 

[Msjulie]

All you need is to tap into the power supply and add a rocker-switch. Boom, heated rear-seats.

I kinda want that so I don't have to be the seat-heater-turn-off-on'er person... switches in the back I mean... #firstworldproblem

 

[TomB985]

I'm sure it's not a challenging thing to do. I'm sure we'll see some informative how-to threads and videos in the near future.

 

[Lostb0y]

I know I’m waiting for the option for premium connectivity. It’s stated for coming later this year I. Their FAQs. Who knows when that was written.

 

[willow_hiller]

I know I’m waiting for the option for premium connectivity. It’s stated for coming later this year I. Their FAQs. Who knows when that was written.

Written sometime around August, 2018:

Frequently Asked Questions - Connectivity

And it said "soon" at that time as well.

 

[Lostb0y]

It’s the one thing I hate about Tesla. The lack of information and inaccurate information.