These days, there are a plethora of new features in modern vehicles designed to keep passengers comfortable, from advanced climate control, to digital infotainment systems. Among these modern features are ventilated and cooled seats, two terms that some folks use interchangeably. However, at their core, ventilated and cooled seats are in fact quite different, so with that in mind, GM Authority is diving into what divides these two types of systems with the following explainer.
Let’s start with ventilated seats, which can found in many GM vehicles. Ventilated seats use built-in fans to circulate air through tiny perforations in the seat material. This airflow helps to reduce sweat and prevent your back from getting sticky on a hot day. However, ventilated seats don’t actually cool the air they circulate; rather, they simply create airflow through the seat to keep you comfortable.
By contrast, cooled seats take things a step further. Often offered in high-end luxury vehicles, cooled seats use refrigerated air to keep your backside comfy, with the air sourced from either the vehicle’s air conditioning system or through a seat cooling element. This chilled air is then directed through ducts and perforations in the seat, providing a noticeable cooling effect on the occupant. By directly cooling the air before circulation, cooled seats offer faster and more effective cooling, especially in hot and humid conditions.
While ventilated seats can be found in several General Motors models, cooled seats are not currently available in any GM vehicles. GM uses the correct labeling when showcasing its ventilated seat technology, however, many consumers mistakenly believe ventilated seats provide refrigerated cooling, a feature that is exclusive to cooled seats.
While both features offer a substantial difference in comfort on a hot day, cooled seats are a good deal more effective. Think of it like turning on the blower or turning on the air conditioner – while both options are preferable to stagnant air, turning on the A/C will eventually make a more substantial impact in lowering cabin temperatures.
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Comments
Wait a minute. You aren’t just blowing hot air up our butts here, are you?
I did a dealer trade for a Ram dealer several years ago on a summer day. Seat cooler was aimed precisely at my large intestine if you know what I mean. Five more miles and I would have had hypothermia while my head was still sweaty.
I have the ventilated front seats in my Blazer and even though they’re not cooled via the a/c, the cool air blowing on to my back does the trick by keeping me from sweating. It took a bit getting used to because the slight hissing sound made me constantly turn my head due to thinking a back window was cracked open. But within time, I got used to it and really don’t hear it anymore.
Well back when ( 2014 Denai) did in fact have “cooling” seat bottoms! They yanked it in 2015. It was nice but I can imagine all the warrantee claims.
Chuck
It wasn’t yanked due to warranty issues, it was yanked for cost savings.
That’s what I was told by the guy at the dealership too! So annoyed that the cooled seats are gone & ventilated have replaced. They don’t compare at all to the cooled seats! SO necessary in Texas summers! So disappointed in GM. 🙁
The Buick Lacrosse I drive has the most peculiar cooled seats. Within seconds you feel like you’re sitting on a block of wet, wet ice. It’s such an uncomfortable feeling that passengers prefer being hot than having the cooled seats on. It makes for a great party trick and laugh though.
A friend of mine has a Hyundai Santa Fe with air conditioned seats. It’s great!
I agree. The cooling and heating seats in our Lexus ES is a nice feature, especially on those hot days. GM needs to step up their game.
Once you’ve used vented seatson a sweltering day, you will come to see the advantage of not having a sweaty back when you arrive at your destination.
Or even worse, sweaty butt cheeks…
I’m not overweight, so I don’t sweat when sitting in a car. So no, I don’t want a feature I don’t need. Nor do I automatically think that more features on a car is better, whatever the feature is.
One of the main reasons EVs are not as popular as they should be is they’re too expensive. That they tend to be loaded up with features like this is part of the problem. Me I simply don’t want the feature, but also it’s somewhat objectionable to have the price include dozens of features I don’t like. (Similar but less extensive problem with Smart TVs.)
Congrats, are you physically fit or just a skinny dude? Either way, I know plenty of fit in shape people who sweat in hot temperatures, it isn’t just an “overweight” thing and it is also a regional thing (IE Florida, Texas and Arizona). Either way, thanks for pointing out a completely irrelevant part that makes yourself look like an entitled D. I respect an overweight dude more than a skinny dude.
Kary, Ventilated seats are an option available with leather seats only. The option makes a big difference in the butt to seat feeling. It is also an option that can be deleted if you order, just like A/C.
Funny..🤣
Not at all. I just don’t like having problematic stuff I don’t want forced down my throat. I don’t use (and actually hate) heated seats, heated steering wheels, hate power liftgates, hate climate control (why would I want some IT guy somewhere deciding what my heat settings should be?), etc.
There are a few tech things that are nice, like adaptive cruise control, seat position memory, power side mirrors, etc., but most this other stuff is either unnecessary or annoying. And if you’re talking about a pickup truck, it all reduces payload.
Oh, and then there’s all the other crap they make you order if you want something like leather seats. $2,000 seats can cost $5,000.
Memory seats, adaptive cruise control, power side mirrors (which aren’t really ‘tech-things’)…..all things that can be problematic as well. Don’t want them? Don’t order them or don’t use them. Problem solved.
Which misses the original point of these things being non-optional on most EVs since they are so loaded up on options. And also misses the point of them being annoying when installed, which is again compounded by them being non-optional.
If we’re going to guess things that aren’t true, I’ll take a stab. People who do like ventilated seats are overweight fat pigs. Hence the need to control sweating.
And guess what, my guess is actually based on something!
Every website has it’s trolls. GM Authority has one named Kary, a real ray of sunshine. 🙄
I’m sorry, but responding to someone who falsely claims I can’t afford things I don’t want and don’t like hardly makes me a troll.
Nor does not being the typical stupid consumer. There was recently a new story about the bad decisions consumers make, with the example being a manual toothbrush that was sort of like a Swiss Army knife and did five additional things. A bad purchase decision, but one that is typical of the average consumer, thinking more features is better.
But I guess from the downvoting of my comment that the average person who likes ventilated seats is in fact morbidly obese and sweats a lot. So I apparently hit that one on the nail, unlike the incorrect guess of my financial ability.
First had cooled seats with TEDs (ThermoElectric Devices / Peltier devices) in my 04 Lincoln.
I will never own another car with out them now.
Dang, that’s cool actually
It really gives me the chills.
I enjoy the ventilated seats in my Silverado and find them effective. I would like to try out a car with actual cooling in the seats to see how much of a difference is noticeable. One suggestion I would like to make to GM based on an Audi that I used to have – allow heated seats and ventilated seats to work at the same time. I get back pain sometimes, and using the heat to relieve the pain while also using the ventilation to help prevent sweatiness was pretty effective.
I can’t imagine needing AC cooled seats. Warmer? Nice. Ventilated? Sounds like it would be great if you remote start in thd summer to get the seats down to a reasonable temperature. But cooled? If the cabin is air conditioned, I don’t need sub-ambient seats, just not blisteringly hot ones.
I had ventilated seats in all of my seven of my Cadillacs since 2009. My 2023 Cadillac XT5 Sport Premium has heated and ventilated seats front and rear and a heated steering wheel that all come on automatically when temperatures are either too warm or too cold. They are great summer or winter and ventilated seats are all I need with the cabin AC circulating into the seat ventilation system.
I don’t think they work well in south Alabama humidity. I’ve had several vehicles with this option and I hardly used them. The ventilated seats do nothing and the cooled seats only make my butt sweat cold and more uncomfortable.
We have several cars with this and it works great.
To be honest you really don’t want AC in the seats. More complexity and cost for something the vented does well.
From what read here few know much about these seats or even own them.
Hearted steeriomg wheel for one with arthritis in hands is wonderful. For us once we had it we do not want car without it. We live where it ges jCOLD in the winter and love these features. Sore back loves heat all year?
They actually work pretty well
I actually enjoy the heated and cooled seat function as well as the heatd stearing wheel feature. the heated stearing wheel feels god to my older arthriric hands and fingers and the heated seats help with my lower back pain. Im using the cooled seats feature more and more as the temperature rises here in the sunny south. these features might be not needed for the WORK TRUCK level people who only want a farm truck but the daily driver senior citizen {ME} enjoy them very much. Thank you GM.
Then why did you unnecessarily comment on it?
Ventilated seats usually come with electric heaters in the seat. Nothing more comfortable than a warm butt on an ice cold morning. Probably as good as the invention of car radios, the Heated Steering Wheel. It soothes the hands if you have arthritis and stiffness on long drives. I use it in warm weather and I live in Orlando Florida
Call them what you want, they are the best modern car feature available. You can keep all your electronic “safety” junk. I dont need wipers and headlights that turn themselves on either. Im perfectly capable of pushing a button or flicking a lever all by myself. Bit ventilated seats are amazing. What is disgusting is that most manufacturers like to reserve this incredibly cheap and easy to add option for only the highest trims. You have to add 10k or more in BS options you dont want to get the 1 you do. The Koreans at least make it easy. Why can I get a $25k kia with ventilated seats but if I want a GM, even an already expensive Cadillac, I have to spend double..?
My 2016 Yukon Denali has cooled seats. I’m disappointed that my ’23 Yukon was only available with vented seats…..which are better than nothing.
My 2021 traverse seats hardly push any air out. But my husband 2022 2500 has so much airflow. Reasons why this would be so different? Both are high country trim