[Mahven]

Lets get straight to the discussion as pointed out in the title of the topic.

Any car that costs above INR 15 lakh on-road should have VS (ventilated seats) at least as an option. I will quickly speak my mind in the following points regarding this matter:

1) The red pill administrators : Thanks to Hyundai for bringing it on Verna and now many many thanks to KIA for getting it on the Sonet. The Indian market is now ready and deserves this option as standard on top variants on any car that would cost north of 15Lakh.

2) Refining Priorities : The world no more considers AC as luxury, it is now a necessity and so are VS. I see many arguments coming my way on this point but I stand my ground on this one since we live in a tropical country and only someone who has used VS regularly can vouch for its value and there are tons.

3) Safety : While driver fatigue is acknowledge as part of the safety it is terribly overlooked form the bottom level! - I mean, literally in this case.
How many would be calm and alert if their backs and bottoms are cool on a summer afternoon either if they are cruising long distance or stuck in a terrible traffic?

4) Misplaced ambitions : While our country has, if I may dare to say, 'fetish' for sunroofs, the need for a more profound feature like VS is kicked to the corner. How many people would rather have cooled seats than an opened sunroof in their premium hatchbacks on a hot and humid summer afternoon with the kind of air quality we have?

5) Shift the paradigm on war-footing : Real sacrilege is not having Ventilated Seats on luxury brands. Consider BMW, one has to go for their 7 series to even have one as an option and its unheard of for their cars in the range of 40 lakh. Not even the M5 gets it. Same case with many CBUs(ridiculously gets heated seats but not cooled ones), Mercs, Skoda(L&K variant being an exception), VW and all other brands with their 30 and 40 plus Lakh SUVs and Sedans.

The concept of Ventilated seats may be new now but in years to come we will be talking about it the same way as we did about the optional AC fitments on the cars of 80's and 90's.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by Mahven

Lets get straight to the discussion as pointed out in the title of the topic.

Any car that costs above INR 15 lakh on-road should have VS (ventilated seats) at least as an option. I will quickly speak my mind in the following points regarding this matter:

Well, the same KIA is famous for not providing Automatic Climate Control or rear seat head rest in their 15L car

Having experienced ventilated seats once, I liked the feature for sure. But when I bought the car (which doesn't have VS), I must say I haven't missed it till date. I must attribute this to the OE fabric seat covers which came with the car (along with a good AC system).

All this time, I read how BHPians praised fabric seat covers for being comfortable, breathable, less sweaty (but slightly difficult to clean) while I had PU leather seat covers on my old car which made me sweat a lot. After experiencing these fabric covers for a year, I have never faced sweating issue.

OT: I still miss ACC in my car as I have to keep changing the temperature controls frequently.

[Mortis]

Its definitely borderline a must have feature on cars nowadays. Even with a bone chilling AC, on a hot sunny day your back and/or bum might still be wet, even on a fabric seat. It's even worse with artificial or leather seats.
Of course this option would only work well on non fabric seats but still.

I'm seriously considering a retrofit ventilated seat kit from AliExpress. There are 12V powdered ventilated covers available for sure but I don't know how comfortable it will be with the ergonomics of the seat. The retrofit kits seem more promising in this regard and not terribly overpriced at 10k. Of course you will have to pay a seat guy and electrician some money for the fitting but it shouldn't be more than 15k total for both the front seats

[Raghu M]

While the VS would definitely be a welcome offering, for some reason, I did not look at it as a main feature when I was shopping for a new car. I booked the XUV300 2 weeks ago, and the Sonet was doing the rounds by then. I tried a TD with the Sonet but could not get hold of a car. I thought the XUV300 had too many features on the top variant for the price. I think the VS is a great feature on Indian roads but was not a deal breaker for me.

Originally Posted by Mortis

Its definitely borderline a must have feature on cars nowadays. Even with a bone chilling AC, on a hot sunny day your back and/or bum might still be wet, even on a fabric seat. It's even worse with artificial or leather seats.
Of course this option would only work well on non fabric seats but still.

I'm seriously considering a retrofit ventilated seat kit from AliExpress. There are 12V powdered ventilated covers available for sure but I don't know how comfortable it will be with the ergonomics of the seat. The retrofit kits seem more promising in this regard and not terribly overpriced at 10k. Of course you will have to pay a seat guy and electrician some money for the fitting but it shouldn't be more than 15k total for both the front seats

That is very interesting. Wouldn't that interfere with the airbags on the front seats? Please share your feedback once that is done. Thank you.

[Gannu_1]

Have to give credit to Hyundai - they are usually the first to plonk in several features found usually in higher segments. Ventilated seats, foot operated boot opening (Verna), rear discs in a hatchback (previous gen. i20), sunroof in a hatchback (previous gen. i10 AT), auto dimming IRVM in a hatchback (previous gen. i20) etc.

They were also notorious in deleting these features in later generations or facelifts. I'm glad these creature comforts are trickling down to the sub 15L hatchbacks and crossovers. I hope safety features also do. The Figo Titanium has 6 airbags, but nobody really cares because the mass market doesn't want those.

[Mortis]

Originally Posted by Raghu M

That is very interesting. Wouldn't that interfere with the airbags on the front seats? Please share your feedback once that is done. Thank you.

It shouldn't affect the deployment of seat airbags which if I'm not mistaken are deployed from the sides facing the doors. The retrofit kit is anyways of a relatively small size about that of an A4 sheet each for the seat and backrest.

As such no plans on getting it installed on my current car which is close to 10 years old and will likely be replaced next year or so as Vitamin M and the job scenario allows !

Will definitely consider it then though

[Kosfactor]

My first experience with Ventilated seats was in Verna , it was amazing, your body feels light and cool.

I felt it was a solution for a problem that was created by using leather seats in our hot climate in the first place, much needed if the seats are leather.

Art leather, Leather as well as thick padded fabric seats with plastic backs are all recipes for sweaty backs in tropical climates, there seems to be no internal space in the seat for ventilation.

The older style fabric seats that have some space inside and a non padded breathable backside does not get uncomfortably warm or give you sweaty backs. Wish they had kept these things simple.

[fhdowntheline]

What about rear seats though. Rear pax comfort is equally important.
I am enjoying this feature on my Creta. However I am reserving regular use for only intense summer days. Don’t want the body to get pampered so much that it feels inadequate when it’s really needed.

[airbus]

I have not felt the need of ventilated seats yet. I don't even have automated climate control. Most of the time I drive with AC Eco mode at lowest fan speed and sometimes my wife and kids feel colder in that setting too

[N33raj]

Ventilated seats are a better option to have any day than a sunroof which will get opened maybe 5 days in the year. Mine usually gets opened in ventilation mode if i am indulging in one of my vices.

Remember the Hyundai Sonata? The last one on sale in India had VS on all 4 seats!! My friend still has this car and the fact that all seats have cooling means we usually do not fight over who gets to sit in the front seats!

I do wish that top spec models have all 4 seats as VS. That way, my parents won't end up with sweaty backs while i drive and remain cool and dry; or put it the other way, the driver is nice and cool while i have a biiiig damp patch on my shirt back! Not cool at all.

This feature is one of those kinds where until you have experienced it firsthand and felt its benefits, you won't bother but once you do, you cannot do without it!

[sodapop]

I don't think ventilated seats are that much of an essential. If your car has a well designed and powerful air con, you'll never feel the need to cool your back.

Besides, it robs the rear passenger of extra legroom and the hard plastic doesn't feel very good on the knees. Also, unnecessary electronics means you'll get hefty bills when they fail.

I'd rather have some more power or safety features like rollover mitigation or brake assist over these gizmos

[AJ18]

For a person who's back is drenched the moment it comes into contact with faux leather seats, I absolutely agree that ventilated seats need to be more common.

[rags.singh]

How about features like "brakes that actually work"

If I am not wrong, these features are only available on sub 15/20 lac cars of Hyundai/Kia. This has been their strategy from the very beginning, blind the consumers with features and make them overlook the build quality and safety aspects. Yes, it will be good to have the feature and others will follow suit, but right now maybe adding these features are making cars of other companies more expensive than what they would like them to be.

Look at DRLs or the notch screen on phones, these were features which were only available on the high end models, but are now present at all the price points.

[46TheDoctor]

While i absolutely agree about the necessity/usefulness of the Ventilated Seats in out hot climate and i will definitely prefer the car with them, i also wonder about how we (humans) complicate the things unnecessarily.

First we put leather (genuine or synthetic) on the car seats which gets heated tremendously in our hot climate and then we want the ventilated seats to cool us. While i agree with the benefits of the leather interiors like looks, ease of cleaning and longevity, etc. the simple solution for our climate is to use high quality fabric seats/covers in the car. I learned this very recently; while every car i bought till last year had leather seats/seat covers, i have put high quality fabric seat covers by Elegant in my Nexon XZA+ last year and i am absolutely loving the experience. No more sweaty backs in the car even though the car has all black theme for interiors and seat covers too; but at the same time these fabric covers are providing looks, comfort and padding/support similar to that of leather seats/covers.

So, while i agree that seats should be ventilated if they are leather, manufacturers should also provide options for high quality fabric seats/covers in their cars which are as good looking as leather, sufficiently durable, easy to clean and also compatible with side airbags. This is a far simpler, cost effective and eco-friendly solution to our hot climatic conditions.

[GTO]

Absolutely agreed with the premise of this thread . Ventilated seats are a must-have in India, and a lot more so than sunroofs (which I love too, by the way ). Considering our hot climatic conditions & the sunfilm ban, it's a no-brainer feature on top variants. Much appreciate Hyundai-Kia for bringing this to the mass market when so many cars in the 50 lakh - 1 crore price band don't offer it!!