What would/will you pay for heated steering wheel?

[NATO]

I reckon given heated seats are £300 to activate, £100-£150 is probably a realistic price Tesla might set for it

 

[Durzel]

A mini update of sorts…

Took my car into the SC today to get some minor cosmetic things looked at, and while I was there I asked the tech if he could tell me if my car could “see” anything about the heated steering wheel that I’d fitted.

He pulled up a massive page of configuration flags for my VIN that showed, among other things:

“Steering Wheel Heating Enabled (115): DISABLED”

Unfortunately he wouldn’t allow me to take a photo of the page he was looking at.

He said he would speak to the senior tech when he’s back in to see if it was something that could be toggled.

Now what I don’t know, and regret not asking at the time, is whether that setting is different, or there at all, on pre-MIC cars with the original steering wheel - i.e. like mine before I changed it.

So not really any real development other than the fact that I saw that my car configuration says that steering wheel heating is disabled, which obviously matches what I have experienced.

 

[Durzel]

Hit a brick wall with this for the moment.

Not really much of an update, but thought I'd add it on here in case it helps anyone else.

Spoke to a tech at the SC today, not the one who showed me the config page for my car (couldn't get hold of him). The guy I spoke to was basically blunt in saying that "it's not part of the configuration", and that was that. Did my best to explain the situation, how the options page for the car appears to suggest that it can see the heated wheel, but as far as he was concerned it is one of those "computer says no, not really interested in investigating it any further" situations.

Looks like I'll have to wait until it's available on MIC SR+s as a paid option, which has been "coming soon" since April, and try my luck then.

 

[terraform]

I take it no updates on this?

 

[Peteski]

I take it no updates on this?

I think the consensus was that you either have the heated wheel or you don't. AFAIK there were no "sleeper" heated steering wheels that you could activate in software.

 

[Durzel]

2021 on cars have a different left body controller (which as its name suggests controls the left hand side of the car, which includes the steering wheel even on RHD cars) which it is assumed to have more beefed up MOSFETs to handle the heating for the wheel.

This controller is not retrofittable in practical terms. I investigated the possibility of it but several connectors are completely different, and even if you could change this controller I would presume you would need to change other things for compatibility.

Essentially the further I went down the rabbit hole the more it became clear that it would be effectively impossible short of wholesale changing significant parts of the car in terms of looms and modules, beyond the scope of any realistic retrofit.

My local SC spent 3.5 hours trying to get mine to work using scripts designed to enable it on cars that had arrived without it enabled, without any luck. From speaking to the techs involved I think they managed to get the button to appear on the screen, but it didn't do anything. The consensus was that the car was checking that everything in the pathway was compatible before allowing it to function. Provisioning the two options ("heated wheel fitted", "heated wheel enabled") wasn't enough.

 

[MrT3]

Essentially the further I went down the rabbit hole the more it became clear that it would be effectively impossible short of wholesale changing significant parts of the car in terms of looms and modules, beyond the scope of any realistic retrofit.

Have you thought about powering it another way? Tapping into the rear screen heating circuit for example so you can still turn it on/off remotely.

 

[Durzel]

Have you thought about powering it another way? Tapping into the rear screen heating circuit for example so you can still turn it on/off remotely.

Yup, there is a guy who did exactly that. It works well enough, I’m just not in the right head space to do the mod.

The guy uses the seat heating as the trigger. I have this on Auto so don’t know how effective it would be.

https://www.reddit.com/r/teslamotors/comments/mqs00d

 

[terraform]

2021 on cars have a different left body controller (which as its name suggests controls the left hand side of the car, which includes the steering wheel even on RHD cars) which it is assumed to have more beefed up MOSFETs to handle the heating for the wheel.

This controller is not retrofittable in practical terms. I investigated the possibility of it but several connectors are completely different, and even if you could change this controller I would presume you would need to change other things for compatibility.

Essentially the further I went down the rabbit hole the more it became clear that it would be effectively impossible short of wholesale changing significant parts of the car in terms of looms and modules, beyond the scope of any realistic retrofit.

My local SC spent 3.5 hours trying to get mine to work using scripts designed to enable it on cars that had arrived without it enabled, without any luck. From speaking to the techs involved I think they managed to get the button to appear on the screen, but it didn't do anything. The consensus was that the car was checking that everything in the pathway was compatible before allowing it to function. Provisioning the two options ("heated wheel fitted", "heated wheel enabled") wasn't enough.

Aw man... thanks for this detail. I'm waiting to take delivery on a used Model Y I got from Tesla. It's VIN shows it as a 2021, but I later found out it was built circa October 2020. From the specs it looks like it does not have the heated steering wheel (see pic). I'm bummed because I didn't realize a vehicle built at the end of 2020 can still be a 2021 model year. Well, not the end of the world I guess. My wife thinks I'm insane for being upset over a heated steering wheel

BUT, now I am wondering if I possibly have the "left body controller" and I can maybe retrofit! Any easy way I can know for sure?

 

[Peteski]

Aw man... thanks for this detail. I'm waiting to take delivery on a used Model Y I got from Tesla. It's VIN shows it as a 2021, but I later found out it was built circa October 2020. From the specs it looks like it does not have the heated steering wheel (see pic). I'm bummed because I didn't realize a vehicle built at the end of 2020 can still be a 2021 model year. Well, not the end of the world I guess. My wife thinks I'm insane for being upset over a heated steering wheel

Our 2021 M3 was delivered late Dec 2020, so would have been built a few months earlier. It didn't have a heated steering wheel either. It's definitely a nice option to have and I did miss not having one on this car.

I can't imagine retro-fitting would be cost effective. If you want a heated wheel that much I would simply pass on this particular car and find one a few months newer with the heated wheel as standard.

 

[terraform]

Our 2021 M3 was delivered late Dec 2020, so would have been built a few months earlier. It didn't have a heated steering wheel either. It's definitely a nice option to have and I did miss not having one on this car.

I can't imagine retro-fitting would be cost effective. If you want a heated wheel that much I would simply pass on this particular car and find one a few months newer with the heated wheel as standard.

Yeah... it's just that I already paid the downpayment and transport fee. So not sure if it's too late to pass.