Heated steering wheel update needed

[Nano]

I live in the PNW where it is now getting wet and colder and my hands are generally cold most of the time. Nothing cuts through you like mid 30's and wet.

I am 4 weeks into my R1S ownership and loving it, mostly. What I noticed on the heated steering wheel is it will warm up quite nicely but after a couple mins the heat cuts and the steering wheel heat drops noticeably and then a few mins later it kicks back on and warms back up.

My guess is this prevents the steering wheel from overheat but the rise and fall in temperature is quite noticeable. All Rivian needs to do is shorten the timing cycle by half and it should keep the wheel nice and toasty warm. My wife's MDX has a heated steering wheel and it doesn't oscillate near the level of the Rivian it just stays warm. I am no auto engineer but this seems like a relatively easy update improvement if Rivian is listening.

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[derekmw]

Yeah, the heating steering wheel hasn't impressed me...

 

[R1Tom]

Rivian heated wheel is weak. I would say of all the heated wheels I have had, it is the weakest of the bunch. Hopefully it is control logic and they can increase the cycle on times. That would be great!

In our Jeep it gets so hot I have to turn it off manually or I swear it might burn hands.

 

[KeithPleas]

It's my first heated steering wheel and I like it. I haven't noticed this cycling - what I have noticed is that parts of the wheel get warm and other parts have to catch up and that takes a long time.

However, I mostly turn it on remotely - and I find the remote process via the app cumbersome. I would REALLY like to have an "Alexa - warm the Rivian" from my house.

 

[opnwide]

Agree…it’s a bit weak compared to others I’ve had for my cold hands. I mentioned to my physician my heated steering wheel isn’t hot enough and she gave me a Rx for a half-tablet of Viagra q24hrs when the temperature is below 43 degrees. Works like a charm!

 

[underkuver]

oh man opnwide, def a chuckle on that one!

agree with others tho. the system has room for improvement....

wait, i know, what about every other manufacturer that has this option? quick preheat mode akin to ICE remote start (if car is outside vs heated garage). wow, we can even queue the seats to warm/cool in that mode without having to hit extra buttons. it just happens at a preset temp.

maybe i am missing this preset but damn if this is the only car in the last few that doesn't do it automatically (including the farm truck).

 

[Throwdown]

I live in the PNW where it is now getting wet and colder and my hands are generally cold most of the time. Nothing cuts through you like mid 30's and wet.

I am 4 weeks into my R1S ownership and loving it, mostly. What I noticed on the heated steering wheel is it will warm up quite nicely but after a couple mins the heat cuts and the steering wheel heat drops noticeably and then a few mins later it kicks back on and warms back up.

My guess is this prevents the steering wheel from overheat but the rise and fall in temperature is quite noticeable. All Rivian needs to do is shorten the timing cycle by half and it should keep the wheel nice and toasty warm. My wife's MDX has a heated steering wheel and it doesn't oscillate near the level of the Rivian it just stays warm. I am no auto engineer but this seems like a relatively easy update improvement if Rivian is listening.

It's weak because it's a capacitive touch wheel for the assistance systems, if it got too hot internally it wouldn't work properly, nothing will be changed about it.

 

[COdogman]

Agree…it’s a bit weak compared to others I’ve had for my cold hands. I mentioned to my physician my heated steering wheel isn’t hot enough and she gave me a Rx for a half-tablet of Viagra q24hrs when the temperature is below 43 degrees. Works like a charm!

Have you tried watching videos of other steering wheels to get you ‘warmed up‘ before getting in your Rivian?

 

[R1Tom]

It's weak because it's a capacitive touch wheel for the assistance systems, if it got too hot internally it wouldn't work properly, nothing will be changed about it.

Is capacitive required for some future level assistance systems? My last Acura had lane keep assist and got alot warmer but I recall it being a torque sense to check on driver wheel contact. But maybe Rivian needs the capacitive route for higher level of self driving?

 

[CrazyOne]

It's weak because it's a capacitive touch wheel for the assistance systems, if it got too hot internally it wouldn't work properly, nothing will be changed about it.

It can be cycled more often to stay at the same peak temperature. Might wear out the relays more, if they are not solid state relays. If they are solid state, it can be done without any negative consequences.

 

[Throwdown]

Is capacitive required for some future level assistance systems? My last Acura had lane keep assist and got alot warmer but I recall it being a torque sense to check on driver wheel contact. But maybe Rivian needs the capacitive route for higher level of self driving?

I doubt it, I think they use it because it's safer for you to just touch the wheel instead of inputting torque to let the it know you're paying attention.

 

[R1Tom]

I doubt it, I think they use it because it's safer for you to just touch the wheel instead of inputting torque to let the it know you're paying attention.

It's good to know it wasn't just an underspec'd or poorly controlled wheel and rather a limitation of the technology. I wasn't aware of that.

 

[Nano]

It's weak because it's a capacitive touch wheel for the assistance systems, if it got too hot internally it wouldn't work properly, nothing will be changed about it.

Even if this is true which I don’t know how it would be capacitive touch through a vinyl cover. It still could be cycled faster to maintain heat without overheating anything or putting anything else at risk. It seems like this should be a reasonable update.

 

[SeaGeo]

Even if this is true which I don’t know how it would be capacitive touch through a vinyl cover. It still could be cycled faster to maintain heat without overheating anything or putting anything else at risk. It seems like this should be a reasonable update.

It's capacitive. Very easy to test.

 

[Throwdown]

Even if this is true which I don’t know how it would be capacitive touch through a vinyl cover. It still could be cycled faster to maintain heat without overheating anything or putting anything else at risk. It seems like this should be a reasonable update.

Even if this is true which I don’t know how it would be capacitive touch through a vinyl cover. It still could be cycled faster to maintain heat without overheating anything or putting anything else at risk. It seems like this should be a reasonable update.

It's definitely true, just touch the wheel anywhere between the 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock position or near the bottom area when it starts yelling at you for not holding the wheel. My hands are always hot anytime I've ever used the heated wheel I end up turning it off manually. As far as Making it come on longer I doubt the wheel electronics controllers are that sophisticated which is probably why it only has one level of heat compared to the seat heaters which have 3. It's definitely worth communicating to them though and seeing what they say about it.

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