How hot is the heated steering wheel supposed to get? (OBX)

[BroncoOBX621]

I have an OBX. I took delivery of in July, so Ive only driven it in the summer. This week the temps have been cooling down a bit so I decided to try out my heated steering wheel and heated seats. The heated seats are absolutly wonderful, but the heated steering wheel has me questioning my own sanity. It seems to get “lukewarm” within a few minutes and then dies off with faintly detectable heat throughout the wheel rather quickly. My commute to work is 45 min and I have the heated wheel on the entire time, and honestly I forget I even turned it on by the time I get there because I don't even feel it. Like it's actually cold where my hands arent touching. It does get warm at the “10 and 2 positions” because of my body heat transferring to the wheel, but other than that you really have to squeeze the wheel and stretch your imagination to feel the heat.



So basically what I'm asking is... Is this what everyone elses is like? I have an appointment at the dealer later this week for a laundry list of ongoing issues I'm having and I'm honestly too embarrassed to add one more thing to it. I feel like I'm nitpicking at this point. Could anyone tell me if this is normal? I did a search on the forum and have read nothing but positivity re: the heated steering wheel. Possibly I'm just expecting too much? My last vehicle's heated steering wheel would get so HOT to the point of concern. No dealers near me have OBX's on their lot for me to compare to, so I come to you, my fellow BS owners!

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[KodiakMomCrawler]

I have an OBX. I took delivery of in July, so Ive only driven it in the summer. This week the temps have been cooling down a bit so I decided to try out my heated steering wheel and heated seats. The heated seats are absolutly wonderful, but the heated steering wheel has me questioning my own sanity. It seems to get “lukewarm” within a few minutes and then dies off with faintly detectable heat throughout the wheel rather quickly. My commute to work is 45 min and I have the heated wheel on the entire time, and honestly I forget I even turned it on by the time I get there because I don't even feel it. Like it's actually cold where my hands arent touching. It does get warm at the “10 and 2 positions” because of my body heat transferring to the wheel, but other than that you really have to squeeze the wheel and stretch your imagination to feel the heat.



So basically what I'm asking is... Is this what everyone elses is like? I have an appointment at the dealer later this week for a laundry list of ongoing issues I'm having and I'm honestly too embarrassed to add one more thing to it. I feel like I'm nitpicking at this point. Could anyone tell me if this is normal? I did a search on the forum and have read nothing but positivity re: the heated steering wheel. Possibly I'm just expecting too much? My last vehicle's heated steering wheel would get so HOT to the point of concern. No dealers near me have OBX's on their lot for me to compare to, so I come to you, my fellow BS owners!

I have an OB that I bought in May and my heated steering wheel is like a normal warmth, I would say. Definitely not hot like the heated seats, but just enough warmth to heat up the steering wheel. Like you, I haven’t used it too much since I bought it in the late spring.. but when I do use it, it’s definitely not overpowering. I’ll try it out again this week and see if I notice anything. Also, I’m not sure where you live, I’m in NJ and it’s starting to get cooler, but not anywhere near freezing temps.. I wonder if we’ll feel the heat more once the steering wheel is actually cold.

 

[Mgboyd]

I got my OB in January and live in Michigan. It was nice this winter. If I remember it got hot quick and when the cabin temp was warm, it seemed to be warm. I thought it was just right.

 

[Whitenight]

I have an OBX. I took delivery of in July, so Ive only driven it in the summer. This week the temps have been cooling down a bit so I decided to try out my heated steering wheel and heated seats. The heated seats are absolutly wonderful, but the heated steering wheel has me questioning my own sanity. It seems to get “lukewarm” within a few minutes and then dies off with faintly detectable heat throughout the wheel rather quickly. My commute to work is 45 min and I have the heated wheel on the entire time, and honestly I forget I even turned it on by the time I get there because I don't even feel it. Like it's actually cold where my hands arent touching. It does get warm at the “10 and 2 positions” because of my body heat transferring to the wheel, but other than that you really have to squeeze the wheel and stretch your imagination to feel the heat.



So basically what I'm asking is... Is this what everyone elses is like? I have an appointment at the dealer later this week for a laundry list of ongoing issues I'm having and I'm honestly too embarrassed to add one more thing to it. I feel like I'm nitpicking at this point. Could anyone tell me if this is normal? I did a search on the forum and have read nothing but positivity re: the heated steering wheel. Possibly I'm just expecting too much? My last vehicle's heated steering wheel would get so HOT to the point of concern. No dealers near me have OBX's on their lot for me to compare to, so I come to you, my fellow BS owners!

I have an Escape with both the heated seats and steering wheel. Since the core of the steering wheel is steel, it will get much colder in the winter time and that is when you will notice the difference between a heated and non-heated wheel. The wheel doesn't get super hot (like the seats) but it gets warm enough that your hands are warm after you come in out of the cold. If you have the remote start option, it turns the heated steering wheel on so that it is warm when you get in. On the Escape, the heater in the wheel turns itself off after a set period of time and you have to keep turning it on if you want the wheel to remain warm. I usually only manually turn it on again only 1 to 2 more times since after that, the entire inside of the vehicle is comfortable.

 

[VirtualJMills]

Badlands edition + Badlands package here, on lowest

If you have the remote start option, it turns the heated steering wheel on so that it is warm when you get in.

… if you leave that setting enabled. There is an option in the Sync3 menus where you can tweak remote-start heated steering wheel, heated seats, and target/override modes for HVAC (but not the target temperature itself, 72°F).

 

[MikeS11222]

ours in just somewhat warm. which in the dead of winter will still be better than ice cold.

 

[Whitenight]

Badlands edition + Badlands package here, on lowest


… if you leave that setting enabled. There is an option in the Sync3 menus where you can tweak remote-start heated steering wheel, heated seats, and target/override modes for HVAC (but not the target temperature itself, 72°F).

Yes it's a setting in Sync 3, and if you have it, why wouldn't you use it?

 

[Ponyrider]

Same boat here. I never had a heated steering wheel, so I didn't know what to expect. I turn it on. Steering wheel gets nice and warm. Then the warmth gets more lukewarm. If I move my hands around, I can sometimes still feel warm. I had hoped it would stay a bit warmer. I have an OB OB. Got it in January, so the heated steering wheel got a good test.

 

[VirtualJMills]

Yes it's a setting in Sync 3, and if you have it, why wouldn't you use it?

Specifically remote-start being able to turn-on seat-heat and steering-wheel heat during a remote-start event... because I don't live in an area that gets "that" cold. Were I to relocate, I'd re-enable it.

Usually when in my current geo, I only want butt and hand heat on after I've been driving for an hour or two sustained, rather than pre-warming.

I pointed it out in case other people's vehicles have the settings tweaked (people fiddling with settings menus during at-dealership pre-sale).

 

[Whitenight]

Specifically remote-start being able to turn-on seat-heat and steering-wheel heat during a remote-start event... because I don't live in an area that gets "that" cold. Were I to relocate, I'd re-enable it.

Usually when in my current geo, I only want butt and hand heat on after I've been driving for an hour or two sustained, rather than pre-warming.

I pointed it out in case other people's vehicles have the settings tweaked (people fiddling with settings menus during at-dealership pre-sale).

I like turning on the heated seats during any kind of weather since it acts like a heating pad on my lower back after a hard day of doing whatever.

 

[Kodiakbear]

I have an OBX. I took delivery of in July, so Ive only driven it in the summer. This week the temps have been cooling down a bit so I decided to try out my heated steering wheel and heated seats. The heated seats are absolutly wonderful, but the heated steering wheel has me questioning my own sanity. It seems to get “lukewarm” within a few minutes and then dies off with faintly detectable heat throughout the wheel rather quickly. My commute to work is 45 min and I have the heated wheel on the entire time, and honestly I forget I even turned it on by the time I get there because I don't even feel it. Like it's actually cold where my hands arent touching. It does get warm at the “10 and 2 positions” because of my body heat transferring to the wheel, but other than that you really have to squeeze the wheel and stretch your imagination to feel the heat.



So basically what I'm asking is... Is this what everyone elses is like? I have an appointment at the dealer later this week for a laundry list of ongoing issues I'm having and I'm honestly too embarrassed to add one more thing to it. I feel like I'm nitpicking at this point. Could anyone tell me if this is normal? I did a search on the forum and have read nothing but positivity re: the heated steering wheel. Possibly I'm just expecting too much? My last vehicle's heated steering wheel would get so HOT to the point of concern. No dealers near me have OBX's on their lot for me to compare to, so I come to you, my fellow BS owners!

I tried mine today. It was abot 50 degrees out. The steering wheel got quite warm, It was hottest near the top, at about 11:00 and 1:00. I have bad circulation and it felt great.

 

[wolfe1971]

I have an OBX. I took delivery of in July, so Ive only driven it in the summer. This week the temps have been cooling down a bit so I decided to try out my heated steering wheel and heated seats. The heated seats are absolutly wonderful, but the heated steering wheel has me questioning my own sanity. It seems to get “lukewarm” within a few minutes and then dies off with faintly detectable heat throughout the wheel rather quickly. My commute to work is 45 min and I have the heated wheel on the entire time, and honestly I forget I even turned it on by the time I get there because I don't even feel it. Like it's actually cold where my hands arent touching. It does get warm at the “10 and 2 positions” because of my body heat transferring to the wheel, but other than that you really have to squeeze the wheel and stretch your imagination to feel the heat.



So basically what I'm asking is... Is this what everyone elses is like? I have an appointment at the dealer later this week for a laundry list of ongoing issues I'm having and I'm honestly too embarrassed to add one more thing to it. I feel like I'm nitpicking at this point. Could anyone tell me if this is normal? I did a search on the forum and have read nothing but positivity re: the heated steering wheel. Possibly I'm just expecting too much? My last vehicle's heated steering wheel would get so HOT to the point of concern. No dealers near me have OBX's on their lot for me to compare to, so I come to you, my fellow BS owners!

I was wondering the same thing. I have an OBX and just tried the heated steering wheel the other day. I can tell it does get a tiny bit warmer but not much at all.

 

[Mark S.]

It seems to get “lukewarm” within a few minutes and then dies off with faintly detectable heat throughout the wheel rather quickly. My commute to work is 45 min and I have the heated wheel on the entire time, and honestly I forget I even turned it on by the time I get there because I don't even feel it.

This link opens an article at Scientific American discussing the phenomenon you describe. It turns out sensing temperature is much more relative than we think. In other words, if you're hands are already warm hot water doesn't feel as hot. Additionally, the sensation receptors in your hands become desensitized after being exposed for a time to the same sensation. There are experiments in the article you can do to prove it to yourself.

My hypothesis is your hands aren't very cold to begin with when you first turn on the steering wheel heat, so it doesn't feel "hot" to you. Then, after a time, you hands become desensitized to the heat so it feels like the wheel is getting colder.

 

[mindleak]

I've noticed if my vehicle is already warm, or I've been driving for a while, and I turn on the heated steering wheel, it doesn't seem to get that warm, though I do feel it.

But, if it's a chilly morning and I remote start it and it comes on by itself, it initially feels quite warm and it's lovely, lol.

So what @Mark S. said makes perfect sense to me.

 

[DMEARC]

I like turning on the heated seats during any kind of weather since it acts like a heating pad on my lower back after a hard day of doing whatever.

I do this as well. I’ll even use my heated seats on a hot summer day just to relax my muscles a bit if I’ve been doing a lot of driving.

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