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BHPian krishnakumar recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Ventilated seats are one of the most demanded features in India (maybe after the sunroof ) and rightfully so. When I was shopping around for a car in 2021, this was one of the top features I was looking to have in my car. But after a fair battle between the contenders, I chose to go with XUV300 that does not have ventilated seats.
I was okay to settle for this but then chanced upon a post on the Citroen C5 Aircross Review thread that piqued my interest on aftermarket accessories. I had in fact searched this earlier but nothing stood out and had stopped looking for options.
I searched again and came across this option on Amazon - RIGGEAR Ventilated Seat Cover
I had a Bangalore to Mumbai drive coming up and I was excited to test something like this out as this would be the perfect usecase for ventilated seats.
But as it is common with small seller listings on Amazon, the price is likely to be inflated. So, some further searches later, I contacted the seller directly to purchase and got a much better deal and a same day delivery as well (since they have a warehouse located in Bangalore). Placed the order at 4pm and I got the product delivered at 8pm.
I have only bought the driver side seat cover. Riggear also sells a co-driver seat cover as a separate unit.
Here's a 1 minute montage of the unboxing.
Fitting it on my car:
This is dead easy to fit on any car. The instructions along with the product are very clear. There are 2 disc shaped plastic clips which needs to be squeezed through the gap between seat back and seat bottom. This holds the seat cover close to the seat. My car has a flap at the bottom that is held by two straps with a clip, which can be easily removed to access the gap. Loop the neck strap of seat cover around the head rests and voila, you're done.
Notice how the disc shaped retainer is locking the cover in position:
Looks neat. Even though the cover is Black in color (only available color) it doesn't look off with the beige interiors:
Based on the clearance from side bolsters, looks like it will not foul with airbag mechanism:
Ergonomics/comfort:
Functionality/User Experience:
Durability:
This is always a gamble with aftermarket accessories. However, looking at the material construction I'm hoping it will hold up good for a year of regular usage. I'll update this over the course of time.
A very effective product indeed; would rate this 9/10 based on current experience. I’d totally recommend this product if someone is looking for such an option.
It should be noted that you’ll not get the same effectiveness compared to a factory fitted ventilated seats. This is clarified in a product disclaimer that is mentioned in the user manual as well. The product simply works on evaporative cooling and doesn’t actually provide cool air. However, if the rest of the car is cool with AC then this will “feel cool”. You’d also stop feeling the ventilation after a while but I’m assuming it is the same with factory fitted ventilation as well. This is not the product stopping to work but rather your body doesn’t distinguish the circulation. However, not once did I feel swampy while using this.
As an improvement to this, I’m exploring if this could be hardwired to the car (using fusetaps) and if it would prevent the power cutoff when starting the engine. But that’s something for later!
Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.