Ventilated Seats not working

[bronco7777]

Has anyone had their ventilated seats stop working?
(By the way, before we get any further... I know the seats don't really cool they are just supposed to circulate air through the seat.)

Problem is my seats are not circulating at all. The seats are set on the screen to be on but nothing happens.
I recently had update 2024.31.1 added to my car. I'm wondering if this update unintentionally affects seat ventilation. Previously my seat ventilation worked well. But now all of the sudden it doesn't.
I've gone ahead and set up a service request via my app with Rivian and I have a date to go to my local SVC in October. Nonetheless, I'd like to know if others are experiencing this or have run into seat ventilation issues.

Just for reference I have a 2023 (GEN 1) R1S Quad.

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[godfodder0901]

Does the fan turn on at all? A vehicle restart may help if the fans aren't turning on.

 

[SoCal Rob]

If you’re in the vehicle in a quiet location with audio and HVAC off, can you hear the seat fan running when you turn on the seat ventilation?

 

[3wisemonkeyz]

I’ve noticed mine is super weak too. I know it’s working somewhat (can hear fan), and I’ve tried having the middle under seat air on (and turned fan on high) but there’s really no air pushing -level 3 feels like a level 1. Let us know what you find out.

 

[DaveA]

Pretty sure that over time the foam material in the seat is blocking more and more airflow.

 

[BourboNole]

If you’re in the vehicle in a quiet location with audio and HVAC off, can you hear the seat fan running when you turn on the seat ventilation?

Maybe mine is an outlier but I can hear mine on full while driving with the radio on. Its loud enough that I usually only run mine on the middle setting, but I'm not complaining because it blows well.

 

[SoCal Rob]

Maybe mine is an outlier but I can hear mine on full while driving with the radio on. Its loud enough that I usually only run mine on the middle setting, but I'm not complaining because it blows well.

Same for me, but OP wrote

The seats are set on the screen to be on but nothing happens.

This made me wonder if nothing happens or if the fan runs but no air is blowing from the ventilation holes. I figured asking my question was a way of getting a clearer idea of what’s happening.

If the fan is running then I wouldn’t be surprised if this is what’s going on:

Pretty sure that over time the foam material in the seat is blocking more and more airflow.

Also, I wonder if there is there a difference in the airflow when the seat is unoccupied versus having weight on it. If the foam is softening over time it could be that putting weight on it chokes off the channels which feed the air to the perforated surfaces.

Depending on the design of the intake side of the ventilation fan and what people have had in their cars, it could be that accumulated fur, dust, etc. is blocking the intake. Mine works fine so I haven’t checked into this.

For people with this problem, it would be interesting to know if the issue is on both sides of the vehicle or the driver’s side only. It might be easier to make a case for service if the passenger seat is noticeably better than the driver seat.

 

[3wisemonkeyz]

For me both sides are weak and I don’t notice a difference with weight applied or not. Also, have tried recirculate to see if that helps and if it does it’s minuscule

 

[TollKeeper]

For me, my ventilated seat hardly works. I can hear the fan running full tilt, but get very little affect..

My heated seat on the other hand... I think if I used setting 3, it would burn my buns! My wife loves it!

 

[md2023]

Odd. Mine work great. You can hear and feel the air. May want to get it checked out.

 

[Ramshackle]

Has anyone had their ventilated seats stop working?
(By the way, before we get any further... I know the seats don't really cool they are just supposed to circulate air through the seat.)

Problem is my seats are not circulating at all. The seats are set on the screen to be on but nothing happens.
I recently had update 2024.31.1 added to my car. I'm wondering if this update unintentionally affects seat ventilation. Previously my seat ventilation worked well. But now all of the sudden it doesn't.
I've gone ahead and set up a service request via my app with Rivian and I have a date to go to my local SVC in October. Nonetheless, I'd like to know if others are experiencing this or have run into seat ventilation issues.

Just for reference I have a 2023 (GEN 1) R1S Quad.

My passenger side one did stop working had it serviced they said there was a connection under the seat that was loose now it works fine.

 

[bronco7777]

If you’re in the vehicle in a quiet location with audio and HVAC off, can you hear the seat fan running when you turn on the seat ventilation?

I can't hear the seat fans at all. Plus, I can't feel anything coming through the seat holes. As soon as I get a break with work I'm going to do a restart.

 

[sherold]

For troubleshooting aid, the ventilation fans are underneath each seat, positioned towards the rear. You can visually see them and, also hear them much better if you open the rear door and take a peek under the seat.

The fan intakes are also conveniently located very near the rear floor HVAC vent openings. Turning the floor vents on with A/C running makes a big difference in how the ventilation feels in the seat getting that cool air to your butt/back.

 

[SoCal Rob]

I can't hear the seat fans at all. Plus, I can't feel anything coming through the seat holes. As soon as I get a break with work I'm going to do a restart.

It seems like there are two basic types of issues:
Fan(s) NOT running and no airflow which is an electrical problem and pretty easy to establish as a service issue.

Fan(s) running but little or no airflow. This is more mechanical and could be blocked intake, disconnected duct from fan to seat (I think someone reported that on here once), crushed or obstructed duct, blockage in seat. If there is NO air flow then it should be easy to get service to recognize the problem. If the airflow is reduced it’s a lot harder to prove objectively.

One other thing to consider for folks with low airflow: if anyone has used a cleaning or protection product on the seats it is possible that some of the product dried in the ventilation holes or even in the batting or foam underneath. This could restrict or block airflow. If anyone saw a drop in airflow after using a product like that on their seats, it may be worth vacuuming the perforations to try to dislodge some of the residue. This might not help if the product dries more sticky than crispy.

 

[amper]

to add another data point - my 2023 T (delivered 12/23) has weak/nonexistent seat ventilation and is scheduled to have the front seats swapped in several weeks. SC tried to clear the issue during a prior visit but I contested that the loaner T's seat ventilation was near instant, which I asked the service advisor to compare with me in person. The SA noted the difference in ventilation performance between the two trucks and pushed for the upcoming appointment/replacement.

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