[shirtmkc]

Anyone find that it takes a really long time for the driver's seat to get noticeably warm? I find it can take 9-10 minutes before I start to feel real heat on my body from the heated seat through my clothes (not just feeling the seat with my hand), in fact it takes so long I forgot I turned it on! My back seat passengers tell me they feel heat in under 5 minutes, while my drivers seat is barely warm to the touch.

My dealer is telling me this is normal. It took maybe 5-6 minutes on my MKX, on I drove my friend's Hyundai last week which was quite warm in 3 minutes. 9-10 minutes is unacceptable. What are you experiencing?

 

[rickster]

I agree, seems like just part of the seat warms up

 

[Bruce]

Recently my wife and I both traded older Lincolns for newer cars.
My wife traded her perfect 2006 LS (a mistake, in my opinion!) for a 2014 MKZ.
I traded my nice 2012 MKZ for a 2015 MKC - no mistake here!
Our older cars seats heated FAR quicker than the newer cars - MUCH quicker - and they were both warmer once heated.
We both agree that this is a big disappointment. And for anyone at Lincoln to tell you that is normal.....hogwash!
I might add too that when using the MyLincoln app to start the car remotely, even with the "Auto" activated on the heating, my seats never heat even after 15 minutes of idling. Our older cars were superior on this excellent feature.

 

[shirtmkc]

Recently my wife and I both traded older Lincolns for newer cars.
My wife traded her perfect 2006 LS (a mistake, in my opinion!) for a 2014 MKZ.
I traded my nice 2012 MKZ for a 2015 MKC - no mistake here!
Our older cars seats heated FAR quicker than the newer cars - MUCH quicker - and they were both warmer once heated.
We both agree that this is a big disappointment. And for anyone at Lincoln to tell you that is normal.....hogwash!
I might add too that when using the MyLincoln app to start the car remotely, even with the "Auto" activated on the heating, my seats never heat even after 15 minutes of idling. Our older cars were superior on this excellent feature.

Good point about the MyLincoln App, I forgot to mention that as well, after 15 minutes of running, the seats are not warm at all, don't remember about the (barely) warmed steering wheel. My 2011 MKX worked perfectly by remote start with the automatic climate settings on. Huge disappointment on the MKC.

As mentioned above, the steering wheel in my opinion does not get warm enough either compared to others.

I know these are luxury items, but we're paying for them to work at a respectable level of enjoyment!

 

[laurel]

Every time we put on the heated seats, my husband says he will put them on our list for our first servicing as the driver's seat is very slow to heat compared to the shot gun position seat. And it doesn't heat as warmly either. No complaints from him over the heated steering wheel yet.

 

[vimish]

The heated seats in my prior cars WITHOUT ventilated seats warmed up very quickly.
The heated seats in my prior cars WITH ventilated seats took longer and never heated up as much.
Maybe this explains the difference.

 

[shirtmkc]

The heated seats in my prior cars WITHOUT ventilated seats warmed up very quickly.
The heated seats in my prior cars WITH ventilated seats took longer and never heated up as much.
Maybe this explains the difference.

I agree with you, however my 2011 MKX had perforated seats, as does my wife's 2013 Explorer, both are nicely warm in 5 minutes, by 8 minutes have to turn them down as they get too warm, never the case with the MKC, much slower, and never gets "hot". Huge disappointment, especially when the dealer says it's normal.

I'm going to be calling Lincoln customer service to complain, it's unacceptable on a vehicle of this price, when obviously they get it right with Ford's other vehicles, no excuse.

 

[TxTom]

As others have stated, the Reserve pkg front seating does not heat very fast, and then not that hot, even on "high." And likewise for the cooled seat option.

Could it be the thickness of the leather and/or the seat padding? They are very comfortable!

Only thing I can think of to explain this...

 

[midnite cruiser]

Dittos on the diagnosis that the heated and cooled seats are related to the slow heat-up. I have noticed this too- in my 10 minute drive to work, it is just getting cozy the last minute or two.
The foam area that leaves space for air movement to cool has an unavoidable by-product of insulating the heating element further away from the leather surface.

 

[garyrc]

I have the Select version and I find the seats feel quite warm within three minutes and I have to lower the temp from high to medium or low within about ten minutes. The heated steering wheel never gets very warm, but you can tell it is effective by touching how cold the unheated part of the steering wheel is. The warmth is pleasant enough to remove gloves on a cold day.

So it may be the Reserve's heated/cooled seats that are the culprit here.

 

[JOEHIO]

The seats in my wife's '09 MKS heat up a lot sooner (2-3 min) than my '12 MKX. Noticed today, that a fan goes on even for heat in her car, I don't recall this happening in mine, will have to check this out in the morning.

 

[DoJo]

In my Select I have heated front seats only. They seem to fire up quite fast and on high are toastier than I will ever need them. I only use the low and medium settings.

 

[shirtmkc]

Well from all the responses, it's looking like the problem is with the Reserve heated and cooled seats, which sucks. I'd give up the cooling option, to have toasty hot seats that fire up quickly. It's only November, I don't want to imagine what mid-January will feel like. It's nice to know Reserve customers pay more and have to suffer the cold! Lol.

Now if we could just get the heated steering wheel to actually get hot, not just warm, that would be great!

 

[midnite cruiser]

I think they heat up plenty fast enough. Yes I have the Reserve.

 

[TxTom]

Here is what a technician at my dealer told me about the MKC heated/cooled seats, vs just heated seats in the Select pkg:

"Within the seat there is a 'pipe' that routes the air from the seat’s central heating unit…kind of like a furnace forced-air unit in a home…to a honeycomb bladder, with air vents (large holes/openings) within, just under the seat cushion. Covers an area-wise the entire underneath of the seat cushion.

Likewise for the cooling, but instead coming from the A/C.

The interesting thing is the base MKC with heated seats, and not with cooled seats, uses the traditional heating electrodes to heat, like an electric blanket. That’s why it heats faster. Sort of the cost of having both heated and cooled is this different design, and not as quick heating."

If you are not happy with the heating/cooling, compare with your passenger seat. If both the same, probably just the design. If different, take it in. And you may want to try another vehicle at the dealer with the heated/cooled seats...as a comparison.

My driver seat had some plastic blocking the "tube," keeping it from making a good "leakproof" connection. Therefore just mild heating. Works as good as designed now. Problem apparently was caused by a prior technician (no longer working there) replacing the cushion which was damaged and identified during the delivery get ready process.

 

[Canucky82]

Yes!

Omg, yes! I've been complaining to my husband for months about this! he drives a 2010 F150 Lariat and his seat warmer is amazing. Mine is awful! I have a 20 minute ride to work (and it was 15 degrees today) and it had barely warmed up by the time I got here.

I really wanted to love this car... but so far I've been frustrated with so many little things like this!!

 

[blankster]

Here is what a technician at my dealer told me about the MKC heated/cooled seats, vs just heated seats in the Select pkg:

"Within the seat there is a 'pipe' that routes the air from the seat’s central heating unit…kind of like a furnace forced-air unit in a home…to a honeycomb bladder, with air vents (large holes/openings) within, just under the seat cushion. Covers an area-wise the entire underneath of the seat cushion.

Likewise for the cooling, but instead coming from the A/C.

The interesting thing is the base MKC with heated seats, and not with cooled seats, uses the traditional heating electrodes to heat, like an electric blanket. That’s why it heats faster. Sort of the cost of having both heated and cooled is this different design, and not as quick heating."

If you are not happy with the heating/cooling, compare with your passenger seat. If both the same, probably just the design. If different, take it in. And you may want to try another vehicle at the dealer with the heated/cooled seats...as a comparison.

My driver seat had some plastic blocking the "tube," keeping it from making a good "leakproof" connection. Therefore just mild heating. Works as good as designed now. Problem apparently was caused by a prior technician (no longer working there) replacing the cushion which was damaged and identified during the delivery get ready process.

I had the heat off in my 2016 Reserve and the seats warmed up pretty good. That would suggest that there is a heating element in the seats themselves and it is not dependant on the vehicle heating system. Now that said the seat fan does cycle with the heated seats turned on so there is some duct work in the seat itself to distribute the heat. Plus my rear seats are heated and again I would suspect there are heating elements in there.

 

[mmoretti]

I had the heat off in my 2016 Reserve and the seats warmed up pretty good. That would suggest that there is a heating element in the seats themselves and it is not dependant on the vehicle heating system. Now that said the seat fan does cycle with the heated seats turned on so there is some duct work in the seat itself to distribute the heat. Plus my rear seats are heated and again I would suspect there are heating elements in there.

Interesting. Just read this older post after blankster commented.
I had my heated and cooled seats fixed with the TSB. The heating portion worked but was very slow and barely got warm and my cooling never seem to work at all But I was testing when it wasn't boiling hot out so maybe this system in play the reason.

Now I had the heated seats fixed and I honestly feel like it's worse. Slower and less warm. I rarely have anyone in my passenger seat so one day when my husband was riding I asked him to check out the seat (passenger) and he reported it worked fairly normal, not like his car but he could feel the heat (he has escape and his heated seats are blazing within 10 seconds). My driver side seems to be slower and not getting warm. I'll have to check it out more closely now understanding how the system works.

 

[blankster]

The seats just need to warm and not get hot. Jeep had issues with the elements getting too hot requiring a massive recall and law suits. It may have more to do with the seat design i.e. the amount of padding between the element and the actual seat surface. If there element was too close to the seat surface you would feel the wires. Now I noticed that the fan does cycle with the heated seats so that may be a difference between 2015 and 2016.

 

[countryguy]

Using the air from the climate system to heat the seats rather than having an electrical element in the seat explains perfectly why the seats take longer to heat up. When it is cold it is going to take longer for the engine to get warmed up enough to produce warm air. When I went out for lunch today I turned on the heated seats. They heated up relatively quickly since the outside temperature is around 0 C (32 F) here and thus the engine would reach operating temperature quickly. I understand using the air from the climate system to cool the seats but they could have used an electrical element as well to heat the seats and thus provide heated seats quicker.