Volkswagen Has Solved the Age-Old Burning Butt Problem
The summer is a great season, but it also comes with its disadvantages, and getting into a hot car is one of the biggest.
Anyone who has sat on hot leather knows the pain of having their thighs seared like tuna steaks. The only solution besides a towel on the seat is a shady parking spot, but how do you find such a thing? Well, Volkswagen wants to use data from its cars to help you out by finding the shadiest spots, according to a new patent filed at the European Patent Office.
Using sensors, Volkswagen vehicles could soon determine the temperature and brightness of a particular parking spot in concert with internal and external thermometers to figure out if the car is in the shade or not.
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VW would then send that information to a centralized database to help other people find shady parking spots. Alternatively, come wintertime, the service could help you find sunny spots to help warm up your car.
Admittedly, at first it sounds a little like an infomercial problem, but a hot car is genuinely one of the worst things about summer and any help you can get controlling that is welcomed. It might be a ridiculous example of German over-engineering, but we’re still intrigued.
A version of this story originally appeared on VW Vortex
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Sebastien is a roving reporter who covers Euros, domestics, and all things enthusiast. He has been writing about the automotive industry for four years and obsessed with it his whole life. He studied English at the Wilfrid Laurier University. Sebastien also edits for AutoGuide's sister sites VW Vortex, Fourtitude, Swedespeed, GM Inside News, All Ford Mustangs, and more.
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How about a system that automatically cools the seats off when the car's been sitting on a hot day, no matter where it's parked? Seems to me like that'd be a better way to solve the burning-butt problem!
And here i thought this was a fix to the seat heaters VW used that wouldn't turn off or maintain a reasonable temperature, resulting in smoldering seats that melt synthetic fabrics in dresses or pants and have caused 2nd degree burns and pants melted to legs. My 2005 Passat Wagon 4 motion and 106 K miles had a new driver seat and a baked leather passenger seat when I bought it. Don't used the seat heaters in the replacement passenger seat I bought