Disappointing ventilated seats on limited

After selling the Venza limited, I've been daily driving the 4Runner limited under 100F Texas summer temp

I must say the ventilated seats are horrible.

I crank the setting up to the highest ventilation, I can hear the fan inside the seat blowing, but hovering my fingers on the perforated surface, I can barely feel any air suction.

Seating in it, my butt and back still sweat.

I've had ventilated seats in my previous Toyotas like Venza, Avalon, they are all potent and makes you think you've wet the pants, not sure what's going on with 4Runners.

Do you feel the same way with with your limited ventilated seats?

 

I feel the same way as you. Pretty lame compared to the ventilated seats in my RAM.

 

Keep in mind these are essentially 13 year old vehicles. I imagine the main purpose of having them on the LTD is to make it appear even remotely competitive to other vehicles at it's price point.

 

The ventilated seats in our GX are far better than the ones that were in the 4runner limited we had. I agree with your assessment!

 

Agree they are weak. Better than not having them, so glad I do, but not what you'd hope for.

 

I love my ORP and would like to say I'd change nothing about it but ventilated seats on long summer trips would be nice. Luckily I don't live in the SW or I think it'd have to be mandatory. Have them in the JGC and they are nice but so are all of the other goodies... when they actually work

 

• Ventilated Seats (50%)
• Auto Dual Zone AC (25%)
• Fulltime 4X4 (25%)

those are the weighted reason I went with the limited

I was going to get a TRD OR (without the premium package) and custom fit katzkin's leather heated and ventilated seats.
I have Katzkin ventilated seats on my Tacoma, man, they are so cold and powerful I could even feel the breeze under the seat from the fans sucking air.

We'll see, if 2023 model year TRD OR gets Auto Dual Zone AC, I might just sell my 2022 Limited and go that route. I can get by with part time 4x4, just need to get needle bearing replaced that's all

 

I had/have dual climate in my 04 and 14 JGC and it didn't seem to help that much. Our current trip in the ORP, we just turn up the AC for whoever is unlucky enough to be in the sun and the others close the vents and seems to work ok. I miss the full time 4x4 (or AWD) especially because we get snow/ice. Would really prefer it with a center diff lock, which I think some older gen 4runners have. Overall though I'm happy with the switch from JGC to 4runner (this is my first). Loved my 04 JGC with the 4.7 HO V8 with solid front and rear axles, traded it with 215k miles and only because we were having a baby and the wife thought we should have something newer (feel confident I could have gotten 300k). Bought a 14 with the 5.7 V8 and it's been a "typical" jeep. It's great when it works as designed but it's had a plethora of issues. I had to get the dealership to change the dipstick at 60k because I found a TSB that the wrong one was installed from the factory that reads a quart low when it's not. So probably been overfilled every service for its life up to that point. I bought the 4runner because all the reviews called it a "dinosaur" that lacked all the new tech bs.

 

no, mine is fine, love it

 

I think the WJ was peak Grand Cherokee. I used to have a ZJ, I really miss it (WAYYYYY better seats than the 4R), but I think the Dub with the 4.7HO and varilock diffs would make a great base for a trail rig.

I occasionally think of picking one up and relegating the 4R to strictly DD duties.

 

I had an 01 limited that had a couple of issues (blend door motors broke and entire dash had to be removed to fix). The 04 overland was great - last year the body style was made and most issues had been worked out (like the blend door motor). It came with rock rails, decent factory skids, and good tow hooks in the front. It was unstoppable as long as you had the ground clearance but that was a bit lacking stock. It didn't have ventilated seats but I felt was pretty stacked for an 04 - heated two-tone leather seats, leather and suede interior, real wood accents, dual climate control, auto headlights, auto dimming mirrors, auto wipers. 265 HP and 330 ft/lbs torque in a roughly 4200lb vehicle, 6500 lb towing capacity, dana 44 rear and dana 35 front solid axles. I really wanted to keep it and turn it into the offroad rig but didn't have the money at the time and had different priorities. Agree it was the best - never drove one with IFS and solid rear but the 14 with front and rear independent suspension is hugely disappointing. Great on the road (when somethings not broken or leaking) but that's the only place it belongs anymore.

 

Sorry OP, didn't mean to hijack your thread to talk about other vehicles. Wish there was a way to keep softex seats and have them ventilated. The softex is great for dogs and ours pooped and puked on the perforated ones in the other vehicle... still not sure we got it all out of the holes.

 

Very much agree with Loco XToyota, cooling AND heated seats are underwhelming compared to my last Buick. I understand you don’t buy a 4Runner for such niceties but if you offer them they should work at an acceptable level. (And don’t get me started on “pay” for remote start!)

 

Not stellar but this is my first time with the feature. Coming from a 14 it was a welcome add. I can say I made it through the first summer with the ventilated seats and down here in the SW it did add some relief. Cheers!

 

Hey just bumping this, but there IS, kinda-sorta, a way to have ventilated seats with the Softex, and that is to get a ventilated seat cushion. Basically it's a seat cover you put over the seat that has fans inside to blow air. Now from what I understand, these only work so well, HOWEVER, I put a "higher-quality" one (it is supposed to be higher-quality) into my 4Runner and it has been a nice addition for days in which the seats get really hot. I honestly don't know how people can handle leather or leather-like seating in the summer, given how hot it gets, without ventilation or cooling in the seats, holy-moly. The seats turn into roasters.

The ventilated seat cushion doesn't seem to get nearly as hot though and if it was, you could fold it up and place it out of the Sun while shopping, but if you set the air conditioner to also blow out the bottom vents, the seat cushion sucks up the cool air and blows it on your back and keeps the bottom part you sit on tolerable. No it isn't like a straight cooled seat and probably not like a high-end ventilated seat (I don't know what quality ventilated seats are like), but it does let you have a cooling feature on the seat with the Softex. I haven't had a chance to really test mine in truly hot and humid weather yet however, will give an update when I get that experience. One nitpick with the cover is you have to have it aligned EXACTLY right or the airflow will be inhibited, and getting it aligned can be a pain, however I think I have gotten it down.

IMO if it keeps the seat at a tolerable level and prevents you from sweating on the back and bottom, it is a win. But very nice when I can feel cool air on my butt and back area.

 

Had them in my Murano platinum AWD and they were great. Not so great in the 4Runner. Better than nothing? Maybe.

 

The leather seat covers on ventilated seats have holes on them right? vs Softex are fully covered? So if you have the fans behind softex air would not flow? Not sure. Vs if you put ventilated seat covers (the one with holes) it may not be that trail friendly when you sit with dust and all the dirt on your pants?

https://youtu.be/Qf9L-UHBhbw?t=119

Adding a pic of my softex seats which I have more confidence where dust, food or anything doesn't seem to go inside the seat. I could simply vacuum or sanitize. I would personally not go for ventilated seats on my abused / hard working 4Runner.


On another thought, may be 4Runner ventilated seats are not good as you guys complain because the holes on the cushion are made smaller on purpose since Toyota expect it to be taken offroad / dirt and dusty places more than other vehicles mentioned in the comments?

 

I believe that is the case, that ventilated and cooled seats have holes in them for airflow, which makes them far less robust than the Softex. In terms of what I am talking about though, it is just a seat cover you put on the seat and plug into the 12 volt outlet, very easy to put on and take off. Here is one particular model:

$100 Paffenery 1Pcs Cooling Car Seat Cover Front Seat, 12V-24V Ventilated Cooling Car Seat Cushion, Cooled Seat Cover for Car SUV Truck Universal Fit, Classic Black

https://www.amazon.com/Paffenery-Cooling-12V-24V-Ventilated-Universal/dp/B0C5DNWX7Z?th=1

 

The ventilated seats are underwhelming and I'm glad you started this thread. On my list of things to do is to copy someone who upgrades the fans for the blowers on the seats. I haven't taken a close look yet, but I'm guessing there's a fan that looks like a computer tower fan that could be replaced with a higher efficiency and quieter fan.

This is a modding forum after all. It's about time the cream puff trim gets some love.

 

I have played with muffin fans for various applications over the years and it has been my experience that when you increase air flow you get an increase in fan noise almost all the time. There is no free lunch.
Toyota might be using a centrifugal fan as usually they are capable of more force, I don’t know as mine is not a Limited.