Front Seat ventilators

MLW · July 6, 2018

In this hot sticky weather keen to use the 'seat blowers'. Mine hardly register. Motors can be heard but no real woosh, either on hot or cold. Any advise please?

Are the filters likely to be mucky, and does this make muck of a difference?

The-Acre · July 6, 2018

To be honest the cooled seats on the LS430 are not great which is surprising considering how good the rest of the car is. Some owners go so far as to say they're useless. I've had two and neither were very impressive with seat cooling.

desperatedano · July 7, 2018

i changed the seat filters on my ls460 @ 70k miles and there was a noticeable improvement to the cooling levels received by my arse cheeks

mrdoofa · July 7, 2018

The first LS430 I had you really couldn’t feel any heating or cooling from the seats even though you could hear the fans running, on the 2nd one which I bought from Phil they did work both heating and cooling but they were very weak, I think the exceptionally warm weather we are experiencing now will definitely over power them. Lots of owners have said that they are very poor almost to the stage of them being pointless. Cleaning or changing the filters may help but don’t expect anything brilliant from the system!!!

My current GS450h heated seats work brilliantly but I can’t feel any cooling when I set them to cold, once again I can hear the fans working but can’t feel any effect, how are the cooled seats in your GS Phil?

RgrWynne · July 8, 2018

I cannot agree with the above comments. Last year I travelled right across Spain with temperatures far higher than that experienced here now, over 38 degrees constant, and my cooling seats were brilliant. The whole seat was very cool and made for an exeptionally comfortable journey. At that stage I was unaware of seat filters and have only just cleaned them out.

July 8, 2018

They get slated on RC too but I love them. Maybe it's an expectation V reality thing?

You could use one of those pet cooling gel mats instead. Very effective for a couple of hours.

Sent from my STV100-4 using Tapatalk

NemesisUK · July 8, 2018

Ventilated seats in my RC work very well. The seat base especially, can induce cramp if left on the max setting too long.

Must say though the seat back ventilation is less effective, very dependent on how one sits in the seat.

MLW · July 11, 2018

That is interesting, with most saying they are pretty poor. It is surprising as my wife's Mercedes SLK has great heated seats. Two settings as well. I'll try cleaning out the filters, but at best I can hardly feel anything, hot or cold.

mrdoofa · July 11, 2018

I had a Vauxhall vectra once and the heated seats were roasting in that on max setting!!!

The-Acre · July 11, 2018

On 7/7/2018 at 1:51 AM, mrdoofa said:

The first LS430 I had you really couldn’t feel any heating or cooling from the seats even though you could hear the fans running, on the 2nd one which I bought from Phil they did work both heating and cooling but they were very weak, I think the exceptionally warm weather we are experiencing now will definitely over power them. Lots of owners have said that they are very poor almost to the stage of them being pointless. Cleaning or changing the filters may help but don’t expect anything brilliant from the system!!!

My current GS450h heated seats work brilliantly but I can’t feel any cooling when I set them to cold, once again I can hear the fans working but can’t feel any effect, how are the cooled seats in your GS Phil?

My GS cooled seats are pretty good I must say, they were a fab thing to have on our recent road trip. I know I've said this before but they're not as good as my Volvo ones which you can't leave on max for too long before they get too cold. So why Lexus didn't make the earlier ones better is a mystery. Still, the ones I have are certainly good enough.

RgrWynne · July 12, 2018

Phil I don’t think the objective is to get “too cold “ . I checked mine after my post, and the surface temp of the seat is cool. It does not cool me, the aircon does that. As I said , having completed over 3000 miles in Spanish heat last year I certainly appreciated having them, but it was more a case of understated comfort rather than feeling a chill......if you get my drift. That was my experience anyway.

But I have a more pressing problem that my wife wants to buy an RX450H, both my children have them, and the new Premier is just wonderful.........but do I sell my beloved LS. The person I bought it from is desperate to buy it back, so have a willing buyer.....or do I just keep it but end up using it occasionally, which as Malc has said is not what these cars are for, and with which I agree. Hard decisions!!!

July 12, 2018

I would treat yourself to the RX450H premier which is a superb car and just make sure your LS goes to a good home,then just remember it with fondness and enjoy your new Lexus.

The-Acre · July 12, 2018

7 hours ago, RgrWynne said:

Phil I don’t think the objective is to get “too cold “ . I checked mine after my post, and the surface temp of the seat is cool. It does not cool me, the aircon does that. As I said , having completed over 3000 miles in Spanish heat last year I certainly appreciated having them, but it was more a case of understated comfort rather than feeling a chill......if you get my drift. That was my experience anyway.

But I have a more pressing problem that my wife wants to buy an RX450H, both my children have them, and the new Premier is just wonderful.........but do I sell my beloved LS. The person I bought it from is desperate to buy it back, so have a willing buyer.....or do I just keep it but end up using it occasionally, which as Malc has said is not what these cars are for, and with which I agree. Hard decisions!!!

I only mentioned my Volvo seats getting too cold by way of saying how fast and efficient they are, even the manual warns against leaving them on max for too long! As you may know I sold my LS430 earlier this year, a decision I regret as it was exceptional, you know you'll miss it!

RgrWynne · July 21, 2018

On 7/12/2018 at 5:45 PM, The-Acre said:

I only mentioned my Volvo seats getting too cold by way of saying how fast and efficient they are, even the manual warns against leaving them on max for too long! As you may know I sold my LS430 earlier this year, a decision I regret as it was exceptional, you know you'll miss it!

Hi Phill, as a result of your comment my LS 430 not going anywhere soon. Drove it for 200 miles on a return trip yesterday, and it is just “brilliant”. Decided to go ahead and change wife’s car for an RX450H in September, which will probably mean less miles on LS, but at least I will still have it to enjoy , although having been out in the latest RX 450 h premium, it is pretty damm good. Thanks anyway, Roger

The-Acre · July 21, 2018

2 hours ago, RgrWynne said:

Hi Phill, as a result of your comment my LS 430 not going anywhere soon. Drove it for 200 miles on a return trip yesterday, and it is just “brilliant”. Decided to go ahead and change wife’s car for an RX450H in September, which will probably mean less miles on LS, but at least I will still have it to enjoy , although having been out in the latest RX 450 h premium, it is pretty damm good. Thanks anyway, Roger

You know it makes sense! I've now had 4 LS's of varying ages and although I agree the MK400 is as bomb proof as it gets, the 430 is in my opinion a much better drive.

65mike · July 21, 2018

Hi all.

My cooled seats on the is250 work but don't seem to give me cool air or very little cool air is there a filter to change or anything else that should be done or are they just poor.😶

Any ideas or info much appreciated.😃

65mike

rayaans · July 21, 2018

The seats are ventilated not cooled.

Ventilated just means it lets through some air from the AC.

Ben01 · July 21, 2018

7 minutes ago, rayaans said:

Ventilated just means it lets through some air from the AC.

AFAIR it is difficult to say "it's from AC", it is like small fan simple suck the air under the seat? (ok, there is duct output here) and push into the cover of seat. I thought couple of times to grab this and install into my GS non-ventilated-seats (and ISes version is easy to find, LS is rare), but always second thought was "it is not worth all this DIY and troubles"...

nickd · August 8, 2018

When my car was recently serviced at Lex Tek I asked Dave to check if they were working, as I couldn't really tell. So he put over the plastic seat cover he uses to keep them clean and it did indeed start to fill with air within seconds. He also tried the passenger seat and that was the same. Since then, strangely i've noticed they do work and are effective.

Also to stop my holiday fling with a VW Caravelle, I found this old review on the LS430

https://www.drive.com.au/new-car-reviews/2000-2007-lexus-ls430-used-car-review-117702

cruisermark · August 8, 2018

Well mine have been a bit useless lately when the temperature has hit 30 degrees - however normally they work well and you notice the base cooling withing a couple of minutes.

MLW · August 8, 2018

3 hours ago, nickd said:

When my car was recently serviced at Lex Tek I asked Dave to check if they were working, as I couldn't really tell. So he put over the plastic seat cover he uses to keep them clean and it did indeed start to fill with air within seconds. He also tried the passenger seat and that was the same. Since then, strangely i've noticed they do work and are effective.

Also to stop my holiday fling with a VW Caravelle, I found this old review on the LS430

https://www.drive.com.au/new-car-reviews/2000-2007-lexus-ls430-used-car-review-117702

That is interesting. It is a bit like a bathroom ventilator. They often do not seem to work until you put one thin sheet of loo roll up and yes, it is sucking old air out.

RgrWynne · August 8, 2018

On 7/21/2018 at 4:35 PM, rayaans said:

The seats are ventilated not cooled.

Ventilated just means it lets through some air from the AC.

Hi Rayanns, that does surprise me I thought each seat had its own chiller unit. However if the air con is effective, presumably you are ventilating with chilled air anyway. My are definitely working as the surface temperature of the seat drops, so I am happy with them.

Just a question, I am considering a new/nearly new RX450H Premier. The Lexus dealer tells me that model has the nearest smooth ride to an LS 430. I may keep my LS for a while also but we shall see. What are your views please, Roger

S