Active Ventilated Seats - How to tell if they're working?

[sgtpeper]

As the title says, I have this option and I can't tell at all if they're working. How can I tell? Do I have to have the A/C turned on and the blower on? Either way I don't seem to feel anything....

Thanks for the help-

[TriX5]

There is a very noticeable "seat of the pants feeling", literally! If you can't sense it then they are not working.

[sgtpeper]

Awesome...

I hear the fan running pretty strongly by my head but I don't feel anything at all on my back or pants.

[jimf15e]

In my opinion there is very little "seat of pants" feeling. BMW's ventilated seats are very weak compared to other manufacturers - just like their A/C systems. If the fan is running it's working. Wait until it's hot out - to me all they're really good for is slightly reducing traditional summertime swamp ass!

[sgtpeper]

It was 85 yesterday and I felt absolutely nothing...

[muddycharles]

When you said you hear the fan by your head - make sure that the settings for the seats are TOP AND BOTTOM. This is a selection you can make and I think it shows when you select the cooling button.

I start to feel something cool after about 10 mins - so no its not super fast and you won't freeze.

[sgtpeper]

I have it set right in the middle. I drove the car for half an hour yesterday and really couldn't tell the difference...

[TriX5]

Maybe I am thin skinned.... but I find it really noticeable.

[bsaunder]

It's quite noticeable on my 2013

[jimf15e]

They're noticeable to me, just not very effective in a hot, humid North Carolina summer. I've driven a few other manufacturers cars with ventilated seats and there was a huge difference. Notably, the Infiniti M37's were so powerful I could only leave it on a min setting after the initial cool down. The important thing many don't realize is BMW advertises them as ventilated seats vs cooled seats. They just provide a little bit of circulation using ambient temp air, not any sort of cooled air.