Really hot for the rear facing seats

[phat78boy]

I have the rear facing seats and they get used with my two kids aged 8 and 6 all time in the Toronto-area. Yes, we did get some extra tint to cut the heat. So far the kids are still interested in riding in the back, and we have done quite a few trips longer than 3 hours with them in the back. I also have a plug-in fan back there for extra air movement.

Two things that play out in the back seat that have nothing to do with heat, or tint, is the fact that the two kids sometimes like a little time apart from each other so one will come to the back seat for a break. The other factor is that we do these 3 hours+ drives with the two kids and the dog (medium size Shepard) in the back with them (dog lies on the floor at their feet). They love being with the dog. So, maybe the solution here is for everyone with rear-facing seats...is to also also get a dog (sorry about the fur on your new car!).

Or to move out of the south where its either high humidty, high heat (110+), or both.

 

[Lou in SoCal]

Not sure how to do it but can someone add a poll to see how many owners with the seats are actually able to use them and how many have them but because of the heat/air flow issue is not able to use?

 

[jeffaa]

Should be getting better for most owners, as the weather is starting to cool.

I wonder how it will be in the winter (I mean cold, snowy-cold type days), and how well the heat will get back there.

 

[markb1]

Should be getting better for most owners, as the weather is starting to cool.

Summer is just arriving around here.

 

[FlasherZ]

Been driving all summer with the kiddos in the car. When it's 100+, you need the A/C set at 68 or so for the rear to remain comfortable for the kiddos. Even then, my 7 year old sometimes comes out feeling a bit warm.

Going to tint with 40 Crystalline all the way around next week to eliminate that.

 

[gaswalla]

Summer is just arriving around here.

yep.. kids that only know San Diego have no tolerance for 90-100 degree heat. Haven't used the rear seats in a month.. will probably put the kids back there in November

 

[lloyds]

Been driving all summer with the kiddos in the car. When it's 100+, you need the A/C set at 68 or so for the rear to remain comfortable for the kiddos. Even then, my 7 year old sometimes comes out feeling a bit warm.

Going to tint with 40 Crystalline all the way around next week to eliminate that.

Go with Photosynch if you can find someone that installs it. There's a whole blog about it:

http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/11032-Model-S-Window-Tinting/page34

 

[spleen]

This is my mod in order to help with the heat in the 3rd row. Kids are now much happier riding back there and enjoy having the control of turning the fans on and off as needed! It has the benefit of being fairly unobstrusive, no wiring, and low cost. The fans are mounted resting on the rail for the parcel shelf and held in place with 3M command strips.

both fans attached - blows at their head on the side

close up of the fan mounted

I'm also using Eneloops with D-adapters to cut down on weight so the command strips don't have to hold up as much. With this, the fans are holding up well and haven't come off yet.

Link to the fan on Amazon

Link to the Command Strips on Amazon

 

[TSLA Pilot]

Any updates to the 3rd row seat cooling issue? No disrespect meant to any of the posters above, but NONE of these solutions seem appropriate for cars in the $100k price range.

It's been almost 2 years since these many posts and we're approaching the hot months again so what's Tesla's plan to correct this design defect?

 

[EarlyAdopter]

The only things Tesla has done to address this is redesign the rear facing seats to take away the hot "pleather" pieces - it's all cool mesh fabric now - and offer a sun shade for the rear window, which works quite well.

Oh, and they added a sticker in the back that advises leaving the A/C on fresh air to improve circulation to the back.

 

[paco3791]

The only things Tesla has done to address this is redesign the rear facing seats to take away the hot "pleather" pieces - it's all cool mesh fabric now - and offer a sun shade for the rear window, which works quite well.

Oh, and they added a sticker in the back that advises leaving the A/C on fresh air to improve circulation to the back.

+1 on the sun shade. picked one up last summer and I think it helps reduce the heat load for the car in general and specifically for the rear facing seat area. Granted I'm not in phoenix or anything but my 3 yr old hasn't had any issues back there yet.

 

[TSLA Pilot]

Thanks for the info. I hope we'll get a more permanent and elegant solution eventually--there must be a Tesla solution that's better than what they've offered thus far.

With the massively large door panels, I'm surprised they didn't follow other brands move of just ducting the air via the doors, through the B-pillar, and then back from there via the rear door panels into the C-pillars.

Not rocket science, but I guess it's not all that hot in Silicon Valley so it doesn't get much attention.

Time will tell.

 

[Alpha]

Tesla service did promise me that the Tesla engineers were working on a *real* solution, but that was ~21 months ago, and I still haven't seen or heard of any better solution, so I'm not holding my breath ... I really only use the seats in the winter and even then, not very often. The kids pretty much hate riding back there... (see my earlier post in this thread where I got Elon's attention on the issue.)