A method of altering the temperature of an external surface of a seating assembly for a vehicle comprising: providing a seating assembly for a vehicle comprising an external surface and multiple temperature altering systems disposed beneath the external surface; presenting an object on the external surface; determining which of the multiple temperature altering systems to activate as a function of the size of the object and the position of the object on the seating assembly, such that, the larger the size, the more of the multiple temperature altering systems are activated, and such that, if the object is not positioned in thermal communication with one or more of the multiple temperature altering systems, then those temperature altering systems are not activated; and activating only the temperature altering systems that the method determined to activate as a function of the size and the position of the object on the seating assembly.