Car Talk: Don’t let your empty seat get too toasty

Dear Car Talk: Is there any problem with leaving the passenger heated or cooled seats on when those seats aren’t occupied? — Steve Well, the biggest problem with leaving it on is if you drive home with your groceries on the seat. Then you get home and your ice cream has turned into mint chip soup. This is not an issue that’s likely to affect the course of humanity, Steve, but I would turn off the seat heater when it’s not in use. Seat cooling doesn’t matter, because that just redirects air-conditioned air toward your tuchus. But the seat-heating element in the seat has a finite lifespan. And while it can be the life of the car (or at least your ownership of the car), that’s not always the case. And when they do have to be replaced, it can cost you $1,000. That would singe your back side, right? When we do see this, it’s usually the driver’s seat element that wears out. Why? Because it gets used far more than the passenger seat.

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