Seat heat works whether occupied or not.

 

Yup! I got that wrong.

The owner's manual says the engine has to be running for the seat heater to work. (p.158)

The system also shuts off automatically after 10 minutes. (p.157)

 

If it takes you more than 10 minutes to scrape the ice, the seat heater probably shut off automatically.

 

I see that in the manual, however, my seats (2010 SCrew Lariat) NEVER turn themselves off automatically. I always have to turn them off manually.

 

My Owner's Manual says that the engine has to be running for seat heat on Pg 156. Page157-158 in my manual are about Seat Restraints and Rear Seats.

When I'm sitting in my seat, it never shuts off. Maybe they mean if it's empty?

 

When you select heated or cooled seats on my truck, it doesn't turn off until you turn it off.

 

That just doesn't sound right!

 

Confirmed this morning on my 2-1/2 hour ride into work. Heated seat DO NOT turn themselves off automatically whether occupied or not. They ONLY turn off when you either turn them off manually or when you shut off the ignition.

Details of test: turned seat heat on both front seats on Low --one occupied and one not occupied. 30 minutes later, both seats still on. Empty passenger seat hot to the touch. Driver's seat...well...let's just say my back, butt and bells were fried to a crisp!

 

I guess it depends on whether you read page 157 or page 158 of the 2010 F-150 owner's manual



Page 157 says 2 temp settings and "off" with a 10 minute automatic system shutdown.

Page 158 says 3 temp settings and "off" with no reference to automatic system shutdown.

I guess we got the Page 158 version.

So nice of the Ford tech writers to make these features so clear for us owners.

 

There's actually two different systems.
- The heated (only) seats are standard on the Lariat and are the 40/20/40 style seat. These are the ones discussed on page 157.
- The heated and cooled seats are an option on the Latriat (standard on Platinum) and are the bucket seats, Captain's chairs style. These are the page 158 seats.

Now as to why the heated (only) seats have two settings and an automatic cut off and the heated and cooled have three settings with no automatic cut off, I don't have a clue. Unless there is some safety reason on the 40/20/40 seats that they need to be prevented from overheating, that the capain's chairs don't have?