I know some cars already have heated seats (which I find very uncomfortable), but I think chilled seats are more important. They could be lined with cold water tubing like astronaut underwear. Also, chilled steering wheels and gearshift handles would be nice.
-- dj_photon, Sep 23 2001

Same here, especially in Florida. Most heated seats are leather, which need to be heated in winter, but for the most part, I'd much rather have cooling...
-- StarChaser, Sep 24 2001


WOW! A whole new meaning to the term "go sit on an iceblock"!
-- shaggysin, Sep 24 2001


I hate leather seats. They're too cold in the winter (even with heated seating) and they're too hot in the summer (even if they were chilled). I do like the idea, though, I've often thought it myself but never posted it. You want fries with that croissant?
-- AfroAssault, Sep 24 2001


Supersize it
-- thumbwax, Sep 25 2001


If you were to tap into the ventilation system and pipe a proportion of the cold air (I assume if it's hot enough to give you this problem, then you have a/c) into the seat, wouldn't that achieve the effect for you? As I live in a cold place, the seats rarely get hot enough to worry about this problem, but I like the sound of it.
-- drew, May 11 2002


In Japan, land of very little central heating, it is considered common knowledge that sitting down on an icy-cold toilet seat first thing in the a.m. causes old people to have strokes. Hence their development of heated toilet seats, etc. I would want my car seat chilled down just to a comfortable indoors-room-temperature for this reason.
-- magrak, Jul 16 2002


Saab and Lincoln (possibly others too) offer ventilated seats. A/C is directed into the seats and threw perforations in the leather.
-- andrewkorbel, Aug 11 2002


Superb idea!!!! Most steering wheels and gearshift handles are black, not out of the choice of the first owner, but because of car manufacturers economy. One size fits all, even if you lived in Spain, Italy, the south of France or similar regions around the world e.g. California. The gearshift handles and steering wheels, when driving in these locations tend to get very hot, so chilling these, even if only a dealer option, would be well worth the money.
-- smokeyjohnson, Aug 13 2002


Baked. I rode in a mercedes that had air-conditioned seats. They were leather, and had a whole lot of little holes that were hooked up to the air conditioning. Very nice during the summer!
-- sjruckle, Jul 14 2004


Lexus, Mercedes and Infiniti offer it as options too in their flagship vehicles.
-- TQMKaizen, May 23 2005


Macroscopicly, I see this as a good replacement for traditional compressor / condensor / evaporator systems. If we could cool the seats passively, it would elimiate "swamp bottom" problem. Although leaving windows open cools the car quite efficiently, one's back and bottom still remain quite warm and generate quite a bit of perspiration.

If seats alone were passively cooled somehow, motoring without a traditional A/C system would be much more practical.
-- ed, Nov 14 2005


A good idea...until the water tubing breaks and squirts freezing fluid all over your passengers.

You get a crossiant, though, for coming up with something that could keep my bum from bursting into flame when I sit down on a boiling hot leather seat.
-- Abusementpark, Dec 10 2006



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