So frustrated with the HEAT in my model S

[nativespinner]

I would get a thermometer and log the temperature inside the cabin. Show the service center the data you collect.

 

[redy]

I have a Sep 2017 S 75D. I have always had this issue. I just figured it was the way their heating was, just thought it was poor.

I always end up using hi and once its fairly toasty either turn it off or keep the fan at 1. Part of it is me, I like it hotter than most.

At the same time in my wife's volvo, even 72 is warm for me. I am not sure if it's defective in my car but doubt the servicing can fix it. I imagine their response will be similar to people's experience in this thread.

I am talking about when temps outside are in 40s for example.

 

[Chopr147]

It's the car! Heater in the S just sucks! I turn heat up to warm my feet and open a window. Not the best system but............

 

[Electric700]

My heat doesn’t work unless I have the setting on “HI” (which is over 81 degrees). Then it blows a lot of very hot air. I moved the temp down to 78 degrees and get cool air! I’ve brought the car in, again, for this issue and just got it back with no solution “the diagnostics on the car are all fine”. Has anyone else had any issues with the heat?

So I have cold air, cooler air, and extremely hot air! This is very upsetting for an expensive car and such a seemingly minor issue.

I recommend you take it in for service and reproduce the issue with a Tesla service person in the car. It might be the temperature sensor, software or both.

 

[quickstrike12]

I quickly scanned this thread and didn’t see (forgive me if I missed it) if anyone asked about whether your using manual or automatic mode? For some strange reason this matters a lot. Seems to for me anyway. I went through something similar awhile back before I just started using automatic mode.
I try putting the system at whatever comfortable temp you want in the automatic mode. Feel around the vents and get an idea of how the air temp feels coming out and then reach up and just change it to manual. But leave all settings alone. Change nothing but the mode to manual.
And note the change in temperature you feel on your hand.
In my case it went from warm air to cool air.
I can’t explain why but this seems to be something with the way it works.
Drives me a little crazy because I like the fan speed very low and want the vent to ONLY blow at my feet. But can’t get there from here when automatic is the only way to get warm air at say a setting of 72 degrees.

 

[zoeconner]

If you have problems with cold feet you really need to try the Tesla Foot Warmer. I promise it does help

 

[Droschke]

I use manual instead of automatic setting (if I'm lucky and the car actually remembers my previous settings!). It's OK but can't expect the ICE car heater performance.

 

[Joelgjr]

Again, this is an issue with your car (and apparently others). I drove my S in northeast weather as cold as 4F. I usually keep it at 70 or 71. I drive with my winter coat OFF for safety reasons (large puffy jackets make it difficult to make large and abrupt changes to steering)

The actual interior temp was 70 on auto.

HOWEVER, I’m thinking this is an EV thing because my Spark EV acts exactly how you describe it. I have to CRANK it up to 80 to get any heat. It can be 20 F inside the cabin with heat on auto set to 70 and nothing but cold air coming out.

 

[Derek S]

My June 18' S100D does exactly the same. I'm not the type who gets cold easily, yet I'm constantly cold in the car unless I turn the heating way up (26C / 79F). In every other car I've owned or been in 21C / 70F is sufficient. At that high temperature the car gets too hot pretty quickly so I have to turn it down a few degrees. Result; cold air almost immediately so I'm cold again. I tried getting it up to 26C / 79F then switching the HVAC system off. Result; car gets cold in well under 5 minutes so I have to switch it on again. Even the drivers door card and metal handle are really cold.

So far its been into the SC twice. Once they claimed it was due to Range Mode being active. I switched if off and the problem was still there. I took it back to the SC and they said its 'normal', but we've put a bit of insulation into the door so that should help. The problem remains!

I have had the same exact issue with my car. I have brought it in to service 3 times for the same issue. When I am sitting in the car and showing this to the service center, I feel like theyre lying to my face saying "it feels warm! it feels hot, actually!".

I cant help but feel like Tesla employees are gas lighting me. I know the car is cold when anybody in the car needs to use a blanket to keep themselves warm.

I never thought that having an issue like this would completely turn me off to a company. But when the car heater was working fine when i first purchased the car, and now all of a sudden decides to stop working properly, and I have absolutely no discourse, it gives me a very negative feeling against the company. It also makes me regret my decision of buying this car. I could have purchased an S class mercedes, or a Lexus LS.

I have now resorted to driving my prius mostly, as I do not feel safe driving this car in the cold.

Is anyone else having this exact issue? Has there been a solution yet?

 

[Droschke]

I have had the same exact issue with my car. I have brought it in to service 3 times for the same issue. When I am sitting in the car and showing this to the service center, I feel like theyre lying to my face saying "it feels warm! it feels hot, actually!".

I cant help but feel like Tesla employees are gas lighting me. I know the car is cold when anybody in the car needs to use a blanket to keep themselves warm.

I never thought that having an issue like this would completely turn me off to a company. But when the car heater was working fine when i first purchased the car, and now all of a sudden decides to stop working properly, and I have absolutely no discourse, it gives me a very negative feeling against the company. It also makes me regret my decision of buying this car. I could have purchased an S class mercedes, or a Lexus LS.

I have now resorted to driving my prius mostly, as I do not feel safe driving this car in the cold.

Is anyone else having this exact issue? Has there been a solution yet?

The issue is real and there are two major reasons:
1) The performance of the Tesla heater is not as good as an ICE car heaters.
2) Model S cabin is not air-tight. There are air leaks from around the doors and windows. Some of the leaks, you might not even notice as the driver of the car and only can be felt by the passengers.

You can not compare Model S cabin heating to MB S class or Lexus LS at all. I feel your pain.

 

[flyeyes]

I may be an outlier here for some reason, but I have no issues with the heat in my 2015 85D. I have a very short commute, and enjoy the fact that the heat starts working immediately. We had low temps in the teens this week and the heat works much better than either of our ICE cars, which produce zero heat for the first 2-3 miles until the coolant has time to warm up.

I also have the "sub zero" package with the heated steering wheel which is nice too.

The AC is marginal in the summer here, but the heat seems fine.

 

[dannycamps]

You people are crazy . I came from a Chevy Volt and in that car, you had to have the heat on at least 80/max (or the ICE running) to get any appreciable warmth in the cabin in the winter.

So far (heading into my first winter with a Model S - recent lows in the 20s/highs in the 30s), I find the heat in the Model S to be more than adequate and in some cases a little too warm.

 

[Reevemh]

My heat doesn’t work unless I have the setting on “HI” (which is over 81 degrees). Then it blows a lot of very hot air. I moved the temp down to 78 degrees and get cool air! I’ve brought the car in, again, for this issue and just got it back with no solution “the diagnostics on the car are all fine”. Has anyone else had any issues with the heat?

So I have cold air, cooler air, and extremely hot air! This is very upsetting for an expensive car and such a seemingly minor issue.

Overall heat is fine but I have cold feet on the drivers' side in my 2019 Model S. Service centre says it is OK but it isn't!

 

[SilverGS]

You people are crazy . I came from a Chevy Volt and in that car, you had to have the heat on at least 80/max (or the ICE running) to get any appreciable warmth in the cabin in the winter.

So far (heading into my first winter with a Model S - recent lows in the 20s/highs in the 30s), I find the heat in the Model S to be more than adequate and in some cases a little too warm.

Same here, in fact I find it too warm when I set it to 22C/71.6F. I now turn it down to 20C/68F and keep the seat heater on. This is the perfect setting in the winter here that just landed in Ontario - temps have ranged between -5 C/23F to 0C/32F

 

[_jal_]

I got rid of my 2016 MS75 a couple of months ago. In three years of driving the thing, I don't think I ever took it off Auto mode. My new MS-LR blows cold air right on my face right up until it gets down to below 30F outside. Today is was in the upper thirties and it started blowing on my face. I looked and Auto was fan speed 5 w only upper vents, A/C and recirculate on. I think it may have actually been 68 degrees for real, but it's a very strange way of getting to 68. Fan speed of 3 on the floor w/o AC is totally fine.

I have an SC appt scheduled, but I think it's going to be a waste of time. It seems like it's a question of it being a feature or a bug.

 

[quickstrike12]

The heater in the Model S at least becomes more efficient the colder it gets. Cool days I can leave it on 73. But when it’s down in the teens 73 starts to get too hot for me. I love the way it heats up so fast.
I prefer to use it manual mode tho. Don’t like the higher fan speed auto always like to do. Plus I only want heat on the floor. Auto typically blows vents and floor.
Regardless it’s a very efficient heater in the winter months.
If yours isn’t making the heat you think it should make certain the car isn’t in “Range mode”. This will reduce the system’s ability to give full heat.

 

[David29]

My experience in a 2015 Model S is that the heater is barely sufficient. My car has a sunroof, which definitely adds to the heat loss and makes the problem worse. What i have noticed is that the heat will be fine for shorter drives, quite warm, but on long highway drives you reach a point at which the heater seems to quit. It might take 45 minutes or an hour. I have read other posts that describe this same phenomenon. Sometimes I have tried stopping the car and starting again, but without clear results. It may be that the car shifts to heating the battery or something. Anyway, it can be good for a while, and then not so good for a while, and then come back. I have never tried to get the SC to look at it, I have only tolerated it -- I do not make many long winter drives.

 

[zoeconner]

 

[PrGrPa]

The heating in the Model 3 is very good. Auto seems to be pretty on the ball.

I find ‘auto’ on my Model S is OK in summer. But in cold weather I do what my SO did before getting their Model 3: turn it to manual, set the air to come out at window, face, and feet and set the blower to 4 or higher with aircon on and no recirculation. Works well for me.

 

[djlott]

I have the same issue. I dont think it's the heater element (or whatever) because when I first turn the car on, it heats up just fine. And as the OP said, if you set to HI, VERY hot air blows out.

Now I'll admit. I LOVE heat. Hot air blowing on my face and feet is perfect. I am NOT a "72 degrees is just fine" guy. I'm a 78 degree with seat heater on 3 guy all the way.

What I think is happening:
Car heats up to set temp. But on reaching that temp, it does not know how to maintain it well. So it blows warmish air and then cooler air to keep temp at set degree.

At some point, all I notice is that cold air is blowing out the vents and I have the heat set to 80 while the temp outside is 64.

I think outside temp has something to do with the "algorithm". When it's 60 or below I dont have this issue. But in that 64 to 68 degree range, the car just doesnt know how to deal.

All speculation but I was commuting last week very irritated at cold air blowing on my face with the heat set to 81.