Heated steering wheel? How warm is it supposed to be?

[Commonguy]

I totally agree. So subjective. I find the steering wheel and seat heaters to be quite comfortable. I don’t live in a really cold climate but 90% of the time I only need the heated steering wheel and butt warner seats to make my drive comfortable, no HVAC required.

How about 3 heat levels, like with the seats? The current cycle time would be the "low" setting (I'm in the cold-hand camp).

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[BTOR]

I agree that it gets hot enough, but it doesn't stay hot long enough.

After a few minutes of nice and toasty fingers it shuts off and cools back down to room temperature. And at that point there doesn't seem to be any way to turn it back on. The indicator shows on but it isn't. And powering it off and then back on doesn't seem to do anything. It will eventually turn back on if you leave it alone, but it takes a long time before it kicks back on. On a long drive it seems like I get about 5 minutes of heat per hour.

Perhaps some people think that a few minutes of heat is enough, but I find the current behavior very annoying. I want the heat to stay on until I turn it off.

Mine does not seem to cool back to cabin temp before coming back on. It definitely stays warmer than that. It does cool from max temp but comes back on before cabin temp is achieved. I would guess the cycle time of mine is ~ 5-7 min. Plenty of warmth/hr.

 

[Jccoryell]

Mine was barely warm. Rivian agreed and replaced the entire steering wheel. Now, it gets satisfactory hot but not as warm as my Bolt EUV. Our previous vehicle, Buick Enclave got too hot much like people are saying about the Rams

 

[cthelan]

Now that it's really cold out, I'm noticing the steering wheel is just barely warm. Like warm enough I can tell that it is a heated steering wheel but not quite warm enough to soothe my freezing hands after taking the kids sledding yesterday. My previous Ram was uncomfortably hot and had to be turned off most of the time so I'm used to an extremely warm wheel and my wife's Hyundai Santa Fe is somewhere in between. Just trying to see if this is something out of the ordinary? Thanks!

Our Gen1 gets super hot and stays hot. 2025 Gen2 and it initially heats up but after about 1min it becomes lukewarm at best and stays there until next drive cycle. Submitted ticket and service said that it tested ‘normal’ despite us also having a Gen1 that we know heats better.

 

[Rae11]

I wonder if Rivian can add variable heating by software update like my other cars had so we can turn it down if it gets too hot?

 

[BTOR]

Mine was barely warm. Rivian agreed and replaced the entire steering wheel. Now, it gets satisfactory hot but not as warm as my Bolt EUV. Our previous vehicle, Buick Enclave got too hot much like people are saying about the Rams

We have a 2023 Bolt EUV too. It’s basically my wife's ride. She loves the heated steering wheel. She calls the Rivian’s wimpy. Same with the horn.

 

[Jccoryell]

Maybe Rivian should focus on improving simple things like the Steering Wheel heater, the wimpy horn, the horrible GPS and the wonky tech instead of parading around to the media their upcoming AI autonomous vehicles. I can only imagine how bad it will be considering the current tech issues. Yes, I love my R1S but am frustrated how they fail on simple things yet are so focused on unnecessary overpriced tech

 

[hammick]

My wife says not hot enough but she is cold blooded

 

[mkhuffman]

I can only comment on the Gen2, but I think anyone with a Gen2 is has the same steering wheel heater as mine. If you measure something different from what I show below, you probably have a defect.

Most likely the reason it feels like the heat decreases after initial heating is because your hands get used to it. My measurements prove the steering wheel heat is not reducing temperature after initial heating. It is true that when it is heating, some places on the wheel have higher temperatures. But it appears there is a target temperature, and the system maintains that temperature for as long as you have it turned on.

The temperature that appears to be the target is 85F. The outside edges of the steering wheel can reach 95F or 100F when heating, but the center seems to hover around 85. Is this warm enough? Maybe not. It is a design choice, but certainly it works.

From my testing, the temperature was maintained for more than an hour, close to two hours, and then I stopped testing. Definitely there is no drop off after 5-15 minutes as others have suggested. That is just your hands getting used to the temperature.

I measured the temperature on the inside, middle, and outside of the wheel at the 10 and 2 positions. On the inside, it was the coolest consistently:

On the outside, it was consistently hotter. Especially during the heating cycle. During the heating cycle it was typically at 95F. When off, it would drift down to 85F before turning back on and heating again.

The middle of the wheel was consistently at 85F. When it got much below 85, the heating cycle starts again, and it heats back up.

This isn't a problem IMO. It is just a design choice, and it works fine.

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[therealcmj]

I can only comment on the Gen2, but I think anyone with a Gen2 is has the same steering wheel heater as mine. If you measure something different from what I show below, you probably have a defect.
...
Let me know if you have any questions.

Sigh. I guess I'm now going to have to buy one of those to add it to my ever growing tool pile!

 

[s4wrxttcs]

Gen 1 - Luke Warm.

Certainly less than 95F

My previous Jeep Wrangler was set at the perfect temperature. Not too hot that I needed to turn it off. It also came with the extra bonus of automatically turning on in cold weather.

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