Heated Steering Wheel gets hotter if colder outside?

Mabuhay · #1 10-01-2010, 09:06 PM

Can anyone confirm if the heated steering wheel gets hotter if it's colder outside? I.e. - if it's 90 F degrees outside, it won't get hot at all? And if it's 10 F degrees outside, it will get hotter?

Is there some sort of "functionality" document anywhere that describes how these things are supposed to work?

I took my X5 to the dealership since the heated steering wheel wasn't getting hot enough. They measured the resistance and found it to be 5.3 ohms producing 73F degrees. The spec is supposed to be 2 to 4 ohms. So they replaced it with a new one which supposedly now got hot at 95 F degrees. But when I tried it, it actually felt LESS WARM than my original steering wheel.

So now I'm thinking that it may have something to do with the temperature outside. Can anyone confirm???

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JCL · #2 10-02-2010, 01:53 AM

None of my heated BMW steering wheels has had different temperatures based on ambient temperature.

They have all had different temperatures based on which model of BMW they were installed in. Not sure if that is due to normal production tolerances, or just that 5 series heated wheels get hotter than 3 series heated wheels.

BMWOO7 · #3 10-02-2010, 10:54 AM

I've never measured the temp of mine but it warms up really nice and I don't think I've noticed any difference during warmer days vs. colder days.

My guess is that it's supposed to be one temp regardless.

Mabuhay · #4 10-02-2010, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JCL

None of my heated BMW steering wheels has had different temperatures based on ambient temperature.

They have all had different temperatures based on which model of BMW they were installed in. Not sure if that is due to normal production tolerances, or just that 5 series heated wheels get hotter than 3 series heated wheels.

Funny you say that since I had a 2011 535 as a loaner. The steering wheel did not get nearly as hot as a previous 3 series loaner that I actually remembered thinking "wow, this thing's hot" and I had to turn it off.

I am thinking that it does have something to do with ambient temperature. The dealer thinks so as well, but says that they can't get an officialy word from BMW stating so.

Can anyone else chime in? Can your heated steering wheel get "uncomfortably hot" that you have to turn it off?

JCL · #5 10-02-2010, 10:42 PM

No mention of an ambient sensor for steering wheel heating in the E70 introduction training documents from 2007. Not saying it doesn't exist, as an input to the electronic steering wheel module, but given the details in the document I would have expected they would have mentioned it if it existed.

http://www.bmwmotorsports.org/pdf/e7...%20Cluster.pdf

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