One of the biggest questions that remained after the release of the refreshed 2021 Tesla Model 3 was if it had a heated steering wheel. Even before the refresh was officially announced by Tesla, all indications were pointing towards the feature being included.
But when the first deliveries started earlier this month, the much-requested feature was seemingly missing from the updated Model 3. It was particularly strange because Tesla hacker @greentheonly, with a proven track record of finding reliable information by digging through Tesla source code, said in October the feature would be added.
All the Model3 refresh stuff: new interior (including the top console that nobody noted somehow), heated steering wheel, efficiency package M3 2021 and M3 SR+ 2020Q4 Shanghai (this one is believed to be LiFe batteries?), heated radar, usb-c in glove box, powered liftgate
— green (@greentheonly) October 22, 2020
When it was first discovered the heated steering wheel was missing, the speculation was that the feature was disabled, but that it would arrive in a future over-the-air (OTA) software update. Now it looks like Tesla will be adding it through the upcoming holiday software update, as Tesla in Switzerland reportedly confirmed the feature would be added soon.
By the way, today confirmed in Switzerland. Heated steering wheell added, activated with upcoming holiday SW release/update:)
— TAP (@MXSwitzerland) December 2, 2020
UPDATE: In speaking with Drive Tesla, green confirmed the same code for the Model 3 heated steering wheel appears for the Model Y as well. That means the latest builds that have been showing up with the metal scroll wheels will likely have the same hardware as the refresh Model 3.
Related: 2021 Tesla Model 3 walkthrough [Video]
To further support the rumour, a Model 3 owner in Germany posted his experience in trying a voice command to turn up the temperature of the cabin heater (via Morten Grove – Tesla-Ships Tracker) the command was misunderstood and instead provided the response “steering wheel heating feature failed.”
Elon Musk earlier this month revealed the Tesla holiday software update would be packed with new features, some of which we have asked for, and some we didn’t even know we wanted.
Do you think the heated steering wheel will be added later this month? Let us know in the comments below.
