Power seats in Touring?

Canadian version gets a battery heater, no power seats, US version gets the opposite. I think it is crap, too. How can a high-end model remove something like power seats? It's 2018, that should be on every car.

 

Based on posts I have read, I am led to believe that it will work by itself if you are charging on a level 2 (220/240v) charger and the battery and ambient temps fall within its algorithm. This is just supposition on my part as I have not read this in any official Honda material. Also don’t know if ICE will run or is even able to help battery temp any other than generating electricity for the heater.
Honda is not giving us much info to go on here. American Claritys have separate coolant systems for ICE, inverter, and battery so one would think that engine coolant heat would not be able to help the battery
Best bet is to keep it plugged in to a level 2 charger O/N.

 

My guess is Honda wanted to control the cost and keep the price fixed. So rather than add power seats and the battery heater, which would have raised the price, they had to cut cost somewhere.

The configuration works fine for us. We don't have the extreme cold here, and the power seats were the key reason for buying the touring model for us.

 

I have asked the question to Honda Canada and they replied they will submit my feed-back to the product team... my best assumption is that it is a weight and space trade-off with the battery heater which is really required in Canada, rather than just cost, but who knows. I agree absence of power seat is disappointing for a model of this price category - but not to the point where it was a show stopper for me.


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I agree that it seems crazy to take out power seats. On everyday cars, power seats are found in all models except the most stripped base.

 

Watch them add it in 2019. Along with the blind spot monitor, rear USB charger ports and rotary volume knob.

 

Also note that the Canadian Clarity is missing the rear centre armrest cup holder cover.

 

I was trying to get through the 600 page owners manual this weekend, and noticed that the Canadian model has low washer fluid alert, while US model does not.

 

There probably won't be too many changes from this model to next year's. I hope they just sell enough of them that the line doesn't become orphaned by 2020…

 

Oh darn. I'm going to return my car then.

 

You can always come and get one from Canada, it even has battery heater. As long as you don't mind missing the power seats

 

Power seats, and the memory feature, were the reason we spent the extra money on the touring model.

 

I would have to believe these are regional requirements that the sales and marketing groups decided on, most likely with cost restraints.

One thing odd was the Accord sport was available with sunroof in Canada, but never in the US.

 

I kinda wonder if, down the line, it would be fairly easy to swap some of that? I mean, if the wiring harness is the same and has the same plugs sitting unused, how hard would it be to swap washer fluid reservoirs for example. Or do you peoples think they might have totally different harnesses and programming?

 

Surely Honda didn't equate the battery heater with power seats? What's the purpose of the Touring without power seats and that wonderful seat/key memory feature.

 

For sure the battery heater is a MUST for Canada; even surprised they will sell the car without it in Northern US states... if they ‘equated it’, I would think it is because they had to do a space-weight trade-off decision, not a cost one. But nobody at Honda seems to have the answer on this.


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No one at Honda, especially dealers and their service departments, have much of ANY answers about the Clarity.