I just recently had the rear facing seats installed on my Signature. While giving my granddaughter her first ride in them here in San Diego she liked the ride in the seats but was complaining about how hot it was and didn't want to be back there. Running the AC fan at full blast didn't help. I was very surprised to see that there is no venting going back there. There is also very little room between the top of the back seats and the roof of my non pano car for air to get there. I have read about how some people are getting really dark tinting or driving with the back windows cracked or down. I don't really want to do that. I really love the look and concept of the seats. I hope Tesla might consider addressing this issue by figuring out how to get some vents back there. Oh no. I have written a non positive statement about my car. I think this is a first. I just want my grandkids to love "grandpa's fast red car" like I do. Anyone have any luck getting around this?
As you alluded to, tinting can solve this problem. I agree that Tesla should have put vents. We tinted our car and kids no longer have any complaints about the heat. At least they put a speaker!!
Make sure you get a ceramic tint. Much more effective than other types of tint, and only a little bit more expensive.
This was part of the reason I passed on the seats. In AZ, it could be like a torture chamber back there, even with good tint. It'll be tough in any predominantly sunny locale (and SD definitely qualifies). I suggest that you go with a tint that has very high heat and infrared rejection. I'm told the 3M Crystalline would be great for this without having to go limo tint darkness. Of course, it is one of the higher cost tints.
I was thinking the same thing actually. The best idea I could come up with would have to be a trade off, they'd have to put in a very small "tunnel" in the middle of the back seats to cary the duct to the rear. While it wouldn't need to be high enough to cause any leg room issues, it still would eliminate the "flat" rear floor board which is a unique feature for Tesla. Jeff
maybe they could be run on the sides by the instep of each door instead....... the ducts could probably be a pretty narrow section so they would not make the instep too deep.....
A quick search brings up this thread about this very topic:http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/6427-Rear-jump-seats/page21 Tesla's official position currently is that people with rear facing jumb seats should turn the A/C to full power, only use fresh air and point the outlets to the ceiling while running maximum fan speed.
Now we have temps in the 90s already I can feel the heat through the pano roof so we got our windows tinted and that made a huge difference. I'm thinking to still go revive that pano shade thread though.....
In south Georgia, it is very hard to sit in jump seats without tinting. Got mine done with 3M crystalline 40 and now it is much better.
We haven't hit the peak of summer, but we've gotten days in the upper 70's with bright intense sun. Before tinting, the kids definitely got hot quickly in the rear facing seats, and the direct light was too bright and visually uncomfortable for them. Several weeks ago, we had the hatch and rear windows tinted with 3M Crystalline 40 and the front door windows with Crystalline 50 (the legal limit in Utah). Nothing on the windshield or additional on the pano. The tinting is great! It definitely has great heat blocking properties, and even the 40 blocks enough light both heat and glare that the kids have said it is fine in the back. From the garage, driving around the kids are comfortable. However, heat in the rear seats can still be a challenge. Yesterday, we took the family to watch our kids in a play, and for 2 hours, the car sat in the bright sun (air temp about 80 degrees). The interior definitely warmed up to uncomfortable, not uber hot, but uncomfortable. The air conditioning was able to to quickly cool the front and mid seats, but the kids in the back continued to report (when I asked, more than spontaneously complaining) that they were warmer then they would like to be. I had the air conditioning on to 11, upper body vents which were pointed back, but not directly at the ceiling as has been suggested above. In mid summer, if the car sits in the sun for a few hours, I can image it could get quite hot in the car (as it would in any car), and it would be a challenge to comfortably cool the rear facing passengers. I'll have to play with pre-venting the pano, pre-conditioning the cabin, driving the first few minutes with all of the windows open then full blast AC, and such. If anyone comes up with a good formula, I'd love to hear it.
The key for me is using the app to cool the car long before I'm taking a kid in the rear seats. I will cool the car all the way to 70 because I need to have the air on 66 or so for them to be comfortable back there when the sun is shining, and I have tinting. I don't think they could sit back there without the ability to pre-cool the car.
I don't have my car yet, but its coming with the 3rd row. Has anyone explored installing a fan(s) in the back to move the air around?
We have the pano tinted with 5% as well as the windows and the rear hatch tinted with 40% and still struggle with keeping the kids in the back cool after the car has been in the sun for a while (temp in the car is easily around 110 or higher). Precooling probably would help but my mother who is the primary driver doesn't have a smartphone and wouldn't help anyways if you forgot to do it. What we have found helpful is initially opening all 4 side windows and opening the pano to about 80% and driving for about 1-2 minutes to get all the hot air out. Then running the temp at 65-68 seems to help with getting the car cooled down fast. But agree that the best option would be to have 3rd row vents that could be opened or closed depending on whether you had 3rd row passengers or not. I wonder if Tesla would consider a retrofit like this in the future - admittedly this would be a lot more complicated than the dash retrofit for the defrost issues.
Why do I get the feeling I'm spending $1,500 on a really cool conversation piece that will almost never get used...... I hear a giant, "I told you so" coming from my wife on this.
I got that today from my wife after coming home from Costco with two of my kids. I did pre-cool the cabin, and my windows are tinted, but damn, it gets hot in this car.
^^^ Are you folks able to move the kids to where it's cooler? Hopefully those who are thinking of this option will see this thread and nix it. I wouldn't be surprised if a mid-cycle refresh adds rear AC ducts if you choose this. It's not even summer yet. Hope nobody in places like Phoenix and Vegas opts for those seats and put their kids there.