# Heated Steering Wheel Random Setting



## DoC0427 (Sep 16, 2019)

For all those with the heated steering wheel, I have a question for you.... has anyone figured out the heat setting madness???

I go into the climatronic settings and set it to “sync with seats” and set the heat level to “high”. Ok, that’s fine and works perfect just as expected... turn heated seat on and wheel heats on high, just as expected.

Then the next day, I use the remote start and it’s cold outside so the seat heater comes on automatically as does the wheel heater, but it’s now set at medium (the wheel).... sometimes. Other times it comes on at low. If I go into the settings again, it’s at that altered mid or low setting... setting it back to high seems to “stick” for a while then changes magically back to mid or low... seemingly randomly whenever I start the car, whether with the remote start or not.

Nothing in the manual about this erratic behaviour... curious if anyone else sees this, or has any idea of why this happens? ...so strange. Not even sure if this is a software bug, or intended to work this way?

Thoughts?????? It’s driving me crazy trying to figure it out.

Cheers...
DoC


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## sazerac (Jun 30, 2020)

I don't have a solution for you, but you're not crazy. Mine has been doing the same thing. I just haven't had the time or the motivation to try and figure it out. Lol


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## rph2004 (Jul 5, 2004)

Wait what - Your heated steering wheel comes on WITH your seats when you remote start your Tiguan?!?
My seats always come on at medium but the heated wheel doesn't come on at all, ever, with remote start....? 

2018 Highline for reference. 

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## sazerac (Jun 30, 2020)

rph2004 said:


> Wait what - Your heated steering wheel comes on WITH your seats when you remote start your Tiguan?!?
> My seats always come on at medium but the heated wheel doesn't come on at all, ever, with remote start....?
> 
> 2018 Highline for reference.
> ...


There's a setting to sync the steering wheel heat to the seat, but even before I turned that setting on, my steering wheel heat would turn on with the remote start on my 2020 Highline. So not sure why it isn't for you.

Maybe check in your owners manual. I know mine specifies what turns on at what temperatures. Maybe there are differences between the 2018 and 2020 models?


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## DoC0427 (Sep 16, 2019)

sazerac said:


> I don't have a solution for you, but you're not crazy. Mine has been doing the same thing. I just haven't had the time or the motivation to try and figure it out. Lol


Hmmm... it’s so strange, and glad I’m not alone. Anyone else seeing this as well? Curious if anyone has mentioned this to a dealer?

Also curious if this is a Tiguan issue, or MQB issue, or even wider than that?

FWIW, mine is a 2020 Highline (Canada).


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## DoC0427 (Sep 16, 2019)

sazerac said:


> There's a setting to sync the steering wheel heat to the seat, but even before I turned that setting on, my steering wheel heat would turn on with the remote start on my 2020 Highline. So not sure why it isn't for you.
> 
> Maybe check in your owners manual. I know mine specifies what turns on at what temperatures. Maybe there are differences between the 2018 and 2020 models?


Yea, there’s a section in the owners manual in the remote start relay section that has a table that shows what will turn on automatically depending on the outside temperature (seat heater, mirror heaters, etc...).

Perhaps as sazerac mentions there may be a difference between model years though.


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## 2019TiguanSELPRLINE (Nov 24, 2019)

I went into long coding with OBDeleven and changed all that. Search the OBDELEVEN thread and you’ll get your answer. 


Kurt


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## 2019TiguanSELPRLINE (Nov 24, 2019)

DoC0427 said:


> For all those with the heated steering wheel, I have a question for you.... has anyone figured out the heat setting madness???
> 
> I go into the climatronic settings and set it to “sync with seats” and set the heat level to “high”. Ok, that’s fine and works perfect just as expected... turn heated seat on and wheel heats on high, just as expected.
> 
> ...


This has to be changed with coding. It’s set to come on medium or low given the outside temp. You can also change the temp at which you want the ac or heat to be set at. I have my AC set to 65 and my Heat at 70 with the heat to be medium no matter what temp 

Also to note that remote start won’t work if you don’t have enough fuel/gas. 

Check the OBDeleven forum. It helps. 


Kurt


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## jonese (Jun 21, 2020)

Further reading: 
Change Climate Control -Remote Start- Default Setting


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## DoC0427 (Sep 16, 2019)

2019TiguanSELPRLINE said:


> I went into long coding with OBDeleven and changed all that. Search the OBDELEVEN thread and you’ll get your answer.
> 
> 
> Kurt


Hi there. Can you point me to where in that thread I can find that info? I did a search and even scanned through all the pages and found nothing related to the steering wheel heater settings and what to change with OBDeleven... I did find someone had asked what a related function was but nothing further. Lots of info about pre-set climate temp and seat heater levels but not steering wheel heat levels.

I do intend to get an OBDeleven but don’t have yet, so perhaps by just using it and exploring with it the answer is self evident but I’m curious about what the settings are available.

It seems suggested that the heat level is automatically set depending on outside temp, however if that’s the case then what is the purpose of the setting in the MIB? I have determined the remote starter has no influence.... I set it in the MIB to “high” then this after a few hours, outside temp is about 4degC and when I manually activated it, it only came on at “medium”.

Is there a setting using OBDeleven whereby the set heat level will “stick” regardless of the outside temp? If indeed it is the outside temp that is causing the setting to change?

Cheers...
DoC


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## DoC0427 (Sep 16, 2019)

jonese said:


> Further reading:
> Change Climate Control -Remote Start- Default Setting


Great read, thanks! Though nothing in there about the steering wheel heat levels... still, this is a good bit of info to help with understanding how it might work.


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## DoC0427 (Sep 16, 2019)

2019TiguanSELPRLINE said:


> Check the OBDeleven forum. It helps.
> 
> 
> Kurt


Are you referring to the thread in the MQB Tiguan forum or another forum altogether? Can you provide a link? I’ve tried searching a good amount here and can’t find any discussions specifically about the steering wheel heater function and what can be changed using OBDeleven or even VCDS.... lots about seat heaters and other climatronic settings but steering wheel heater, not so much of anything.

Any direction is much appreciated!

Cheers...
DoC


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## sazerac (Jun 30, 2020)

I'd have to refresh my memory, so I could be wrong, but I don't think you need to do any programming. I've read the entire OBDeleven thread and the only mentions of HVAC, etc. I remember seeing that could be related is changing the threshold temps (i.e. making the seat heaters come on when the ambient temperature is X rather than Y). And yes, as jonese has mentioned, there is coding related to keeping the last presets when using remote start (or something to that effect), but none of that should have any impact on the question you're asking about. Again, my experience is with the 2020 model, so YMMV, but I didn't code anything and the heated steering wheel comes on with the seat heaters while using remote start, regardless of whether the seat heater / steering wheel SYNC function is enabled.

Have you had a chance to look through your owners manual? Mine is in the car right now (damn VW not providing PDF copies), so I can't check right now, but it's pretty well laid out in there how it's supposed to function. You might find that your 2018 model works differently. Or if you find it should work the same as mine, then you should take a trip down to your dealership to find out what's going on.


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## rph2004 (Jul 5, 2004)

As suggested I searched the OBD forums with no luck finding any info with regard to being able to change anything related to the heated wheel. Would love a direct link to the topic/post if possible?

Also FWIW my '18 owners manual does not have any notations that indicate the heated wheel activates upon remote start. I suspect the functionality was added into newer MY Tiguans. 

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## DoC0427 (Sep 16, 2019)

rph2004 said:


> As suggested I searched the OBD forums with no luck finding any info with regard to being able to change anything related to the heated wheel. Would love a direct link to the topic/post if possible?
> 
> Also FWIW my '18 owners manual does not have any notations that indicate the heated wheel activates upon remote start. I suspect the functionality was added into newer MY Tiguans.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G970W using Tapatalk


Me too... I cannot find any references/discussions about the steering wheel heat function and settings using an OBD device.

The whole relation to the remote start is irrelevant from what I can tell... not related to the question. For example, I set the level in the MIB to “high” then after a re-start of the car it “magically” has changed by itself to medium or low. I’m fairly sure that depends on outside temp but I don’t know for sure.

If anyone knows more about this and/or what can be adjusted/set with the OBD, it’s would be great to know.


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## skiron (Apr 23, 2020)

*Works as designed*

What you are experiencing is the car being smart. In remote start it always put Seats into middle so they don't over heat. Assumption is (and I'm assuming this) that since remote start works for 10 minutes limit, if you enter the car after 5-8 min, the seats are heated enough, that if you switch to max it takes little time to heat up. As for steering wheel, same exact reasons, the car has outside temp sensor, so on colder will use mid, on warmer low, but by protection it will never use high


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## DoC0427 (Sep 16, 2019)

skiron said:


> As for steering wheel, same exact reasons, the car has outside temp sensor, so on colder will use mid, on warmer low, but by protection it will never use high


Ok, that makes sense however if that’s the case then what’s the point of the low/mid/high setting in the MIB then? If the outside temp is always going to override/change it then what does having this user-adjustable setting accomplish???

As mentioned before, remote start has nothing to do with this... the setting changes whenever the car is started, whether it be by remote start or not.


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## 2019TiguanSELPRLINE (Nov 24, 2019)

DoC0427 said:


> Ok, that makes sense however if that’s the case then what’s the point of the low/mid/high setting in the MIB then? If the outside temp is always going to override/change it then what does having this user-adjustable setting accomplish???
> 
> As mentioned before, remote start has nothing to do with this... the setting changes whenever the car is started, whether it be by remote start or not.
> 
> ...


You need to do the seat / steering heater memory mod then. It retains the settings. 


Go to [08] Auto HVAC
Go to adaptation and change the following:
"retention of the seat heater level driver" to active
"retention of the seat heater level passenger" to active

And since you have the steering wheel synced with seats it will remember the wheel setting as well. 

Kurt


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## DoC0427 (Sep 16, 2019)

2019TiguanSELPRLINE said:


> You need to do the seat / steering heater memory mod then. It retains the settings.
> 
> 
> Go to [08] Auto HVAC
> ...


Is there no settings to retain only the steering wheel setting? Independent from the seat heater?


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## 2019TiguanSELPRLINE (Nov 24, 2019)

Yes. Just don’t turn on the sync with seats. And select high for steering wheel. The mod works either way 


Kurt


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## DoC0427 (Sep 16, 2019)

*SOLVED* - ...sort of.

I got my OBDeleven recently and started trying to figure this crazy steering wheel heat setting thing out. All of the suggestions here in this thread do not work to resolve the issue originally posted; that being the car seemingly determines on it's own volition to randomly change the setting of the steering wheel heater.

Another quirk of this is that when using the remote starter, the MIB does not seem to know what the steering wheel heater is doing.... it is indeed turned on (I can feel it and it's reported in the energy users screen) but the icon on the MIB is not illuminated (indicates is actually OFF - but it's not).

What I determined:

has NOTHING to do with the remote starter function (happens regardless of how the vehicle is started except for the MIB icon issue)
has NOTHING to do with outside temperature (it's -8degC today and has been in that range for days, the behavior remains)
is NOT resolved by having the vehicle "retain seat heater settings" (this is for the seats only)
also has NOTHING to do with user profiles

So basically, I've come to the conclusion there is a software bug somewhere that affects the vehicle's ability to retain the user's selected steering wheel heater level.

*My fix.... *well more of _hiding_ the issue than fixing it.

Using OBDeleven, there's a parameter (long coding) in Module 8 (Air Conditioning) called "Steering wheel heater levels" and there are 2 options for this setting: Mehrstufig or one-stage. This parameter determines whether the steering wheel heater operates as multi-stage (low/mid/high) or simply as on/off.

I've set mine to the "one stage” setting and now everything works as expected! Of course there is no longer a low/mid/high setting BUT it comes on with the seat heaters (if set to sync) at low temps, the display shows correctly all the time which it frequently did not before, and the setting (sync with seat heater) is retained no matter what driver profile or method of starting the car is chosen. Basically the seemingly random behavior is eliminated! 

At this setting, the "on" position seems to be equivalent to the "high" setting. For me, this is a good fix. I've never had a vehicle with multiple stage steering wheel heater before anyway, and the mid/low settings seemed to have minimal effect anyway on the steering wheel temp (all very close to each other).

Hope this helps someone else....

Cheers...
DoC


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## phlegm (Apr 24, 2019)

That's interesting - pretty sure my 2019 has just the one heating level for the steering wheel. (Not 100% certain.)

You've had 3 levels of adjustability prior to the coding change?


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## DoC0427 (Sep 16, 2019)

phlegm said:


> That's interesting - pretty sure my 2019 has just the one heating level for the steering wheel. (Not 100% certain.)
> 
> You've had 3 levels of adjustability prior to the coding change?


Yup. Came from the factory that way.
Setting the parameter to on/off only solves all the issues/quirks... and provided me some mental relief!

Curious if yours is currently on/off, what happens if you set that parameter to multi? I bet it would work (with the quirks) since the way the car controls the low/mid/high is by regulating the on/off time cycle... it’s the same steering wheel/heating element. Your software just may not have that parameter though.

Cheers,
DoC

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## Tunator (Jul 26, 2021)

I read all the thread.. I have other problem. I have heated seats and also the steering wheel. But I'm missing the option in AC settings to Synchronize wheel with seats. Any ideas how to enable this? I can't find it...


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## OhioSpyderman (Jul 21, 2021)

From my 2021 SEL Premium R-Line owners manual...










Bob.


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## Tunator (Jul 26, 2021)

Thanks for reply. I do understand where to find it in AC settings, but problem is that this "sync" option is missing in my car. I would like to know where in VCDS I can code it.


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## OhioSpyderman (Jul 21, 2021)

I only have OBDEleven and I can't find anything about pairing the seat and steering wheel heating, sorry.

Bob.


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## jonese (Jun 21, 2020)

Agreed. On my 2020, the sync option was in the standard user accessible menus, it's not an adaptation change needing VCDS/OBD11.


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