2019 Sierra SLT Crew Cab - no heat from remote start heated seats

Openmind · November 13, 2019

I seem to have zero heat coming from my 2019 Sierra SLT heated seats when I use the remote start. Heated steering wheel is working fine, but not the seats. Before I open the door, I have peeked inside to see if the heated seat LEDs are on, but they are not. It's now 5 degrees here in MN and no heated seats. My Silverado used to kick in at about 40 degrees.

See my pics below to see how I have things set up in the Infotainment menus. Any idea what "cold days" is actually supposed to mean in the Infotainment message shown in the second pic? When I call the dealership, they say the seats should kick in when it gets cold. Yeah I get that, but what is the finite number of the temperature that is supposed to kick in the circuit? Is the temp measured outside the cab or inside?

Here's how I have this feature (or lack of feature) set up. See these two pics. Your thoughts? Thanks in advance for your help.

Tomtom87 · November 14, 2019

I have the exact same trim level Sierra that you have and my truck is exhibiting the exact same issues. Steering wheel heater is on but the seats arent and it is 20 degrees outside. Maybe a software glitch?

Chris Callanan · November 14, 2019

I used mine a few weeks ago - only in the 40s here and the seat heated just fine. I would think maybe the ambient sensor is blocked or something, but if the steering wheel is heating, then the system knows its cold...

Maybe a SW issue, maybe something else... sounds like the dealer needs to get involved.

Raybaby · November 14, 2019

The heated seat lights don’t come on in remote start

Bob2C · November 14, 2019

The heated seats will come on when temps are below 54 degrees with remote start. The one thing I noticed was that it’s only slightly warm. Not like they turn on high. So at like 50 I felt that the coldness was just taken out of the leather. Fast forward to temps in the low 20s. Don’t even feel like they are warm after 10 min of remote start. When I push button to turn them on normally they heat up fast and are hot. So they work. I was assuming they would be hot like running them on high during remote start. That’s not the case. Anyone have different feelings about it?

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OnTheReel · November 14, 2019

7 minutes ago, Bob2C said:

The heated seats will come on when temps are below 54 degrees with remote start. The one thing I noticed was that it’s only slightly warm. Not like they turn on high. So at like 50 I felt that the coldness was just taken out of the leather. Fast forward to temps in the low 20s. Don’t even feel like they are warm after 10 min of remote start. When I push button to turn them on normally they heat up fast and are hot. So they work. I was assuming they would be hot like running them on high during remote start. That’s not the case. Anyone have different feelings about it?

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Pretty much exactly my experience too. During remote starts when temps were at least in the 40s here, the heated seats felt much more effective and noticeable. Now that we are in the teens, basically nothing until I sit down and turn them on manually.

I am trying to think back to January and February...I do kinda remember the seats getting warmer for remote starts than they have lately.

Maybe a software update along the way has changed them from being on the high setting during remote starts, to a low setting? Or it could be 100% all in my head. But I do agree they don’t really work during remote starts anymore.

It's Tim · November 14, 2019

32 minutes ago, Bob2C said:

The heated seats will come on when temps are below 54 degrees with remote start. The one thing I noticed was that it’s only slightly warm. Not like they turn on high. So at like 50 I felt that the coldness was just taken out of the leather. Fast forward to temps in the low 20s. Don’t even feel like they are warm after 10 min of remote start. When I push button to turn them on normally they heat up fast and are hot. So they work. I was assuming they would be hot like running them on high during remote start. That’s not the case. Anyone have different feelings about it?

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Correct. If the seats ran full blast all the time peeps would complain about having to replace the fried heating element.

Cpl_Punishment · November 17, 2019

On 11/14/2019 at 8:06 AM, It's Tim said:

Correct. If the seats ran full blast all the time peeps would complain about having to replace the fried heating element.

Or sue GM because their heated seats were actually hot and they burnt their asses.

Zach-91 · November 25, 2019

Not sure if the 2019's are the same way or not, but my 2015 ltz that had ventilated seats as well would never feel that hot. After searching online it seemed everyone with cooled/heated seats complained that the heaters would not transfer heat as well as the standard heated seats so I always thought something was wrong because they would not get that warm when remote starting. Now switched into my 2019 with just plain leather heated seats and it works very well. I can always tell that they have been running during a remote start warm up.

econometrics · November 25, 2019

As others have noted, the intensity does not come on fully when you remote start.

If it's 15º outside, and your seat is 40º, that's a big difference.

Heck, it was 50º when I got into my truck this AM and that leather was COLD! (I didn't remote start). I cranked the seats up to 3 and started feeling the warmth in about 2 min.

Jmcab · November 26, 2019

I was going to start same thread. 19 AT4 and my heated seats will not turn on during remote start. Heated steering wheel turns on, but the seats are still cold. All settings are setup correctly, tried a factory reset and I’m running latest software. No issue during hot summer remote start and seats vented fine. Morning temps around 2 degrees.

Chris Callanan · November 26, 2019

It finally got actually "cold" here - 37 degrees this morning... remote started... heater was on, steering wheel was hot, my seat was luke warm.... I think they don't turn it on all the way... I know once I turn it on with 3 bars, in a few minutes my backside is roasting... so I think maybe it is just the 1st bar- just enough to knock the frost off the seat....

SkidooSteve12 · November 26, 2019

Same situation with my 2020 2500HD and heated leather seats and heated steering wheel. The steering wheel can be hot and the seats don't seem to be warm at all. I was wondering if the setting was set to the lowest setting for the seats, while the steering wheel only has 1 setting. I was going to borrow my work's laser temperature gauge and see if the seat was any warmer than the center seat some morning.

Openmind · December 13, 2019

My bad I guess. I found out the seats are actually are coming on, but unless you wait about 10 minutes, you won't notice they are heating. Factory setting to heat the seats when using remote start must be set to the absolute lowest amount of heat possible, so it takes quite a bit of time to heat up.