Seats too hot in Tesla Model 3/Y?

Zenith74

Tesla very kindly let me borrow a Model Y for an overnight test drive recently. Love the car and I'm basically convinced on it, but my one hesitation are the seats. I'm in a Leaf at the moment which comes with perforated "leather" seats. They're warm to sit in compared to fabric, but not uncomfortable. The seats in the Tesla are much warmer though, to the point I was shifting around in the seat after 30 minutes of driving with the AC on. The seat warmers are definitely not on, the issue seems to be down to either the breathability of the pleather or the seat foam material just being too good an insulator.

I see some threads about it on other sites and was curious if anybody here experienced the same thing and did anything about it? Seems like a crazy reason not to buy a car I otherwise really like, but I imagine it could be quite uncomfortable on longer journeys in the summer. I'm sure you could add one of those 90s style bamboo seat covers but that would be a mad thing to have to do. Some videos online of people getting the seats ripped apart to add ventilation. And some talk of ventilated seats potentially becoming standard at some point in the futher.

Anybody else?

eagerv

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058253489/seats-too-hot-in-tesla-model-3-y

have also noticed a wet back after a bit of driving. Not much we can do about it but except for ordering the white seats which should stay cooler. Or pre cool car before driving.

but summer is short here. In a few months we won’t be complaining 😊

Zenith74

I'm not a particularly sweaty person but even with the air conditioning on constantly I was finding the seats too hot, so I'm not hopeful the summer vs winter will make much of a difference, but I guess we'll see.

In terms of options I've come across -

1. Pull over material cover which would do the job but don't tend to look great
2. Those 90s style wooden bead covers which would definitely work, but again look a little mad in a car like this
3. I've seen some videos of ventilation being added, basically cutting holes in the foam and adding fans. Quite drastic and probably overkill, I'd just like the seats to be a little more breathable, full ventilation not required
4. Have the seat covering replaced with perforated leather, which again is fairly drastic but the results look pretty good and you get the option to change up the colour while you're at it. Like this for instance https://tsportline.com/pages/tesla-model-y-peanut-butter-leather-insignia-interior-seat-upgrade

The more I see the options of changing the seat colour plus the fact they're ventilated to solve this issue the more I wonder about it. They need to be professionally installed, not sure if they do it anywhere in UK/Europe though. Curious what others think?

Third_Echelon

I haven't noticed this to be honest. I've had my Model Y for nearly a year and a half now in Southern California, where most of the year it's high 20s-mid 30s Celsius. I have black seats and black paint. Just have to have AC going all the time to keep the cabin cool (like in any car in the summer) - usually around 18.5C -> 20.0C.

Drove through the Mojave Desert to Vegas as well where it got up to 45 Celsius. No problem... or not something that would make me want to put a cover or beads on the seat.