Seat Cooling - what is it supposed to do?

[swt2c]

3/2017 build S, apparently equipped with seat cooling. I'm trying to figure out if it works or not. What is seat cooling actually supposed to do? I would have expected to feel air blowing from the seat?

 

[jebinc]

3/2017 build S, apparently equipped with seat cooling. I'm trying to figure out if it works or not. What is seat cooling actually supposed to do? I would have expected to feel air blowing from the seat?

cool your crack and back!

 

[swt2c]

cool your crack and back!

Well, duh, but how?

 

[DrComputer]

No Tesla had seat "cooling". The option was "ventilated" seats which just pulls air through the seats from fans installed underneath. Not terribly effective. Other car brands with cooling seats use Peltier coolers to actually circulate cool air (the same cooling mechanism used is Coleman-type coolers).

 

[The Lorax]

Ya, I think they replaced the ventilated seat option with the fart noise maker. Cheaper to manufacture and gives a similar effect.

 

[GeoX750]

Well, duh, but how?

My BMW and MB blow air out through the seats.

 

[Art VandeIay]

3/2017 build S, apparently equipped with seat cooling. I'm trying to figure out if it works or not. What is seat cooling actually supposed to do? I would have expected to feel air blowing from the seat?

Shameless plug here: I think this thread my help you with your question regarding Tesla's ventilated seats.

Cliff notes: I have the Gen1's on my 2017 Model S, and my wife has the Gen2's on her 2019 Performance Raven Model X, and you can barely feel them working during a mildly hot day. I had ventilated seats on my Jag, MBs, Audi and Porsche and all of them blow actual cooled air as @DrComputer mentioned, but Tesla's approach was for the seat to "suck the heat and moisture away from the body" and they are simply terrible.
We don't have kids and they are a pain to keep clean, and since they are perforated, they easily tear and crack due to the structural compromise the perforations cause on the leather.

Side note: The new Palladium Model S and Model X have the Gen3 ventilated seats, which I have not yet tried personally, but from what I've read here on TMC, they are much much better than the previous iterations.

 

[JADCa]

My seats definitely blow cool air through the holes. Works great. Make sure they are turned on.

 

[Art VandeIay]

My seats definitely blow cool air through the holes.

Looking at your signature and your profile picture, you have a Palladium Model S (congrats, by the way ), so you have the Gen3 ventilated seats. OP's question was regarding a 2017 Model S with Gen1 ventilated seats.

Works great.

Seems like third time's the charm.

Make sure they are turned on

Fortunately Gen1 and Gen2 ventilated seats (on fan speed 3) are GREAT if you want to divert a boring or lousy conversation with your front seat passengers thanks to the noisy fan white noise they produce, without the fear or side effect of actually cooling their derrieres .

 

[JADCa]

Oops. Sorry, the topic came up under LR deliveries and I missed that part.

 

[swt2c]

Thanks all for the feedback. I can hear the fans running when I turn on the seat "cooling", but it basically doesn't do much of anything. Sounds like it is working as designed. :-(