The Seat-Warmer Theory
I’d never had a car with heated seats before, and now that I have one, well, I don’t crank them up very often, partly because I’m not used to them, but mostly because the coldest part of the day this time of year is usually right around sunrise, and my tendency to start off to work before sunrise means that the car has been sitting in the garage all night and is twenty or thirty degrees warmer than it would be had I been parking outside.
Which may or may not be relevant to this exposition by Andrew X, in which heated seats are a symptom of something:
[O]ur markets AND our politics, and thus our entire culture, is driven utterly, relentlessly, and unremittingly toward driving every, single solitary possible smidgen of an iota of real or perceived “discomfort” from any aspect of our lives. (“Discomfort” = “Bad Stuff”) If it is something bad, be it pedophilia (monstrous) or a cold tushy (please), it does not matter, the media and culture will scream that we must be protected from it, the politician will leap forward to save us from it, and/or the markets will roll in to tell us that you won’t suffer from it if you buy our product or service, and, maybe worst of all, the lawyer will rise up to tell you that if said “bad thing” does brush against you in even the slightest way, someone else can be blamed and forced to give you money for it, with a nice chunk going to the savior of society lawyer along the way of course.
End result is a civilization of people every bit as pampered and helpless as your average first grader was 50 years ago, and about equally capable of dealing with life’s rougher edges.
Meanwhile life, being indifferent to our discomfort, just keeps coming up with those rougher edges. (And a couple of makes now have seats that are heated and cooled.)
Jeffro »
20 December 2008 · 10:02 pm
I’ve got heated leather seats in my Z71 (discord there much? In a pickup truck?) that I never use. I suppose it’s like your reason – just not used to them. I’ve had the truck long enough to pay it off, but not long enough to get accustomed to the stupid heated seats.
Now cooled seats, there is an idea I could get used to in a hurry.
I’m not sure if the car manufacturers are looking to coddle us into pampered bliss as much as they are more concerned with moving the iron with more profitable goodies. Thus, if you want the good seats with all the adjustments, they have to be all power, heated and leather. Cruise control, power windows, locks and mirrors are all a package deal. No al a carte options anymore.
CGHill »
20 December 2008 · 10:16 pm
We’ve been heading in that direction for years. The Mazda 626 I bought in 2000 officially had two options: the slushbox ($800 from the factory) and the tape deck ($300 at the dealership). The base car, though, included power windows, cruise control, A/C, CD player (and a darn nice one, considering it was OEM), and the legendary 626 oscillating center vents, which I still miss.
There was one other ’00 626 on the lot at the time, which I drove but did not buy. It was slightly more tricked out, with alloy wheels, a sunroof, and power locks; I passed on it because on the Virginia-to-Linwood hairpin, I banged my head on the roof.
Weirdly, I later met the woman who bought that car — I always talk to other owners, and she allowed that she’d gotten the last one on the lot — and I duly passed on that information.
Brian J. »
21 December 2008 · 6:43 am
Also, let’s not forget that heated seats often mimic the sensation of having wet one’s self.
My wife uses them, and I do not, so it’s not infrequently that I find myself a couple miles from home going, what the heck?
I mean, saying what the heck. Not actually going.
Charles Pergiel »
21 December 2008 · 6:40 pm
“Don’t forget that the media has a bias not toward the left or the right, but toward conflict.”
From Princess Sparkle Pony (http://sparklepony.blogspot.com/2006/03/somebody-please-give-larry-downing.html)
A friend of mine has heated seats in his car. Says he wouldn’t buy a car without them. Spoiled rotten he is. My wife has heated seats in her car. She likes them. I don’t. Our Chrylsler Sebring has leather seats. I drove it to work one winter and froze my seat off every blinking morning. Bought sheepskin seatcovers at Costco. Solved the icy seat problem, but raised my seating position just enough to bump my head.
Rob O'Hara »
21 December 2008 · 6:51 pm
Our Honda Odyssey came with seat warmers along with other amenities du jour (including, among other things, exactly 11 cup holders).
While I have no problem with the seat warming itself, the switches leave something to be desired. First of all they’re rocker switches,which means they stay in the position they were previously in. You would think they would be a “soft” style of button that would reset themselves each time, but no. My wife and I frequently trade between driver and passenger seats, meaning that no matter where I sit, I get a surprise case of the “hot cheeks.” The switches have three settings — off, low, and high. Off is in the middle, and at least in the dark, it’s impossible to see which is low and which is high (they both simply have an amber light). That brings me to my third complaint — the location of the switches. They’re on the door panel, down near the little flat where you stick stuff, and all the way forward next to the door jam. Non-flexible passengers with cold rear ends need not apply. Even if you can reach the switch, there’s no way to read the writing on it.
CGHill »
21 December 2008 · 7:00 pm
Same switch type and settings in my car, with the added treat that the indicator light on the driver’s side isn’t working. The switches themselves, however, are on the console, adjacent to the switch for the rear sunshade.