Tesla Prepares To Turn Heated Front Seats and Wipers Into Paid Features

[Crissa]

First, heated seats make you more comfortable, they don't add one mile of range.

Heated seats add range by letting you reduce the cabin temperature while maintaining comfort.

They can make you more comfortable, they can't add range. You can turn down the heat with or without seat heaters, you just won't be as comfortable.

Fixed it for you, @HaulingAss . Heated surfaces provide more comfort with less energy expense than general cabin heating.

In other words, more range.

-Crissa

PS, I hope you know I thumbs up nearly all of your posts, despite our argument last week.

 

[CyberGus]

PS, I hope you know I thumbs up nearly all of your posts, despite our argument last week.

I try to rate the post, not the person, since reasonable people can disagree at times.

Anyone incapable of getting a ? from me is probably already blocked.

 

[HaulingAss]

Well, there's no evidence they're doing it as an ongoing subscription. That's just the writer's take.

-Crissa

No where in the article does the writer mention that Tesla might be offering an ongoing subscription to heated front seats, even if that idea was cleverly planted in the readers minds. All it speaks to is the possibility of heated seats as a paid option, which of course Tesla has previously done on the rear seats of entry level models. Owners of those models can still pay a one time fee to activate those rear heaters.

This is much ado about nothing.

 

[Crissa]

The BMW seats were a subscription, and the article leaned heavy into comparing them to that.

-Crissa

 

[HaulingAss]

Fixed it for you, @HaulingAss . Heated surfaces provide more comfort with less energy expense than general cabin heating.

In other words, more range.

-Crissa

PS, I hope you know I thumbs up nearly all of your posts, despite our argument last week.

Honestly, it's the turning down of cabin heat that provides more range, not the turning on of the heated seats. Yes, I understand how it tends to work, of course, it's just incorrect to say it is the heated seats that are increasing range. If you decide not to turn down the heat they will actually decrease range.

It's like saying taking a long walk before you drive increases range (because your metabolism will be stimulated, and you might turn the heat to a lower level). It's not the walk that increased your range, it's that you turned down the heat.

And yes, I did notice you stepped up your liking of my posts. ?‍

 

[Crissa]

Honestly, it's the turning down of cabin heat that provides more range, not the turning on of the heated seats. Yes, I understand how it tends to work, of course, it's just incorrect to say it is the heated seats that are increasing range. If you decide not to turn down the heat they will actually decrease range.

It's like saying taking a long walk before you drive increases range (because your metabolism will be stimulated, and you might turn the heat to a lower level). It's not the walk that increased your range, it's that you turned down the heat.

And yes, I did notice you stepped up your liking of my posts. ?‍

Yes, but being able to turn down the cabin heat is a trade off that gains you range.

-Crissa

 

[HaulingAss]

Yes, but being able to turn down the cabin heat is a trade off that gains you range.

-Crissa

Exactly!

 

[HaulingAss]

The BMW seats were a subscription, and the article leaned heavy into comparing them to that.

-Crissa

I know, the author cleverly got many people to believe Tesla might be implementing heated seats as a paid subscription, without ever providing any information that was the case.

Sneaky story to try to generate Tesla rage.

 

[MiguelAznar]

As much as I want to get as much as possible for as low a price as possible, I have no problem with Tesla installing more than I pay for and locking it. Sure, it seems weird to not have use of something physically in my car, but if Tesla said, we can lock it and give you the option to upgrade over the air (impulse buy!) or not install it and require that you bring your car in for a mechanical retrofit, I would much prefer the former. Well, as long as it’s not weighing my car down and hurting the efficiency.

Although the one time fee feels much better than a subscription model, I can even imagine situations where I would want to unlock the feature for a short period of time. Perhaps heating when I go to a cold area or performance when I went to play for a weekend. Subscriptions taste bad, but if they are much cheaper than the one time unlock, I might welcome that, too.

Of course, the best is more features than I expected at a reasonable up-front price!

 

[charliemagpie]

In Australia, we don't need heated seats.. As an exception, I think it's user preference to have to pay for an extra.

But in freezing countries, where you are paying middle dollars for a vehicle, it's a selling point, needed, and should be standard. IMO.

 

[intimidator]

Subscription based pricing gone amok.

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

It should be noted that Tesla did have these as an upgrade option in the past. I knew I remember this being a thing for a while.

https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-model-3-rear-heated-seats-standard-range/

Back in 2020 the SR Model 3, Tesla's cheapest vehicle at the time, had the rear heated seats disabled. You could pay $300 for an OTA update to unlock them.

Tesla must save money in manufacturing by putting the same hardware in every car. It seems odd to charge for something they put into the car to save money, a savings they have already realized. Because they have all of the hardware, I can see them being able to offer new, less expensive, trims, and then doing this one-time charge for the feature after the sale.

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

It will never be a subscription feature, even if the article leads you to believe that, without actually saying so.

The title of the article is:
Tesla Prepares To Turn Heated Front Seats and Wipers Into Paid Features

How did you get subscription from that?

My observation of legacy auto is these have typically been "paid" features in that you had to pay more than the base price if you wanted them.

So I'm a little baffled what all the outrage is over. If Tesla can lower the base price by doing this, it makes perfect sense.

Typical click bait - and it worked. Sad but true.

 

[SolarWizard]

They won't take away what you already have ... Very curious why, though, considering BMW's failure. I guess we need to wait and see ...

Oh they are definitely not opposed to that

 

[Macgyverfever]

"You guy's a$$es warm back ayre? Cause mine's colder than a well-digger's"

-Driver & passenger


P.S. this isn't going to happen , and I don't appreciate ? posts getting my peeps into a tiff with each other especially on a weekend/weekend eve