2017 heated steering wheel only seems to stay on for about 5 minutes

[MikeSafari]

I know it's early in the 2017's lifecycle, but has anyone else here had this issue? It was one of the big selling features for me but it's not working as expected, and a thread on reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/mazda3/comments/5n1l32/heated_steering_wheel_not_getting_hot/) seems to suggest at least a few more people are seeing it.

When you turn the heated steering wheel on, there's a 30-minute timeout (I suspect to prevent contact burns). You can override this to disable the auto turn-off, but I haven't really found the need to. The problem is that the steering wheel heats up just fine for about five or ten minutes and then just stops being warm. The indicator light on the button is still lit so I'm expecting it to continue being warm, but it doesn't get any warmer or even keep the same temperature after that.

From limited testing of it, it seems like turning the switch off and then back on sort of "resets" the timer, but again only for about five or ten minutes.

I could probably find out for sure with a few hours and a FLIR camera, but I don't often have one, and have never had the other, so...

Anyone else seeing this?

[sdboers]

Just picked up my 2017 yesterday, so I'll monitor and let you know. My 2013 truck also has a heated steering wheel - I have noticed on it, that it seems to ramp the temperature down over time - perhaps the Mazda is doing the same thing. On high to get it warmed up, then a lower temp setting to keep it warm? Similar to what you describe - in my truck I can kick it off and back on again and the higher temp is restored for a while.

Not sure it's actually a fault.

Sean.

[studum]

Mine's the same. Figured it was hitting a temp or time limit and allowing a cool down before kicking back in. It will get warmer again, but not really super warm or as hot as the initial warm up period - more like a maintained warmth. I know this has happened because I've felt it again a few minutes down the highway and turned it off myself at that point.

My wife's heated wheel in her Kia will get really hot if you don't have gloves on and eventually time out as well, but you usually want to turn it off yourself first.

I was somewhat disappointed it only heats the 2 sides and not all the way around / @ the top but I'll take whatever I can get.

[McGuyver_3]

My parents 04 murano (which I retrofitted steering heating from a maxima) cycles on and off(5-10 minutes and it gets HOT) 3 times in a row before shutting off completely.
My 07 mazda 3 winter car heated seats also cycle very annoyingly but do not shut off completely
Ive driven some cars at work (not Mazda/Nissan) home over night and their steering wheel heaters also cycled.
I would say based on experiences, it is normal

[morganc]

Cycling is completely normal. My friend's mercedes had roughly a 20 min timeout.