THE BITTER SWEET, HEATED SEAT

Fair enough, I told my wife we weren't getting a truck if it wasn't manual and came with a sunroof. I won she also didn't think heated seats were necessary until she sat in them with the ass melting volcano setting for the test drive. I won again

 

I use the heated seat function like a heating pad more on long trips, the tacomas have always left my back feeling like shit on extended trips 2-4 hours of driving. At least the seat is a "little" better in the 3rd gen.

 

Does anyone else find themselves using the heated seat when it's warm? Kind of therapeutic.

 

Yes, I also have bean using it that way

 

This sums it up perfectly! McDonalds hot coffee hot without the million dollar payoff.

 

I don't know if its THAT HOT! "butt" it is nice!

 

I added my own because they were the only part of the tech package that I really wanted.

I used the universal Dorman kit http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002U6IL9O?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00

They were a lot of work to install and the Dorman's are probably not the best choice because of the size and shape of the pads. I had to carefully trim them to fit in the center cushion area.

 

Would you do them again and are they really warm? I have looked at those and thought they looked shorter than the distance that the stock ones go. On the stock, its the entire seat bottom and about 70% of the back and it down really low were it gets my very lower back were I need it.

 

They definitely don't cover the entire cushion. They're basically as long as the center cushion is wide so they only cover a square area. The cut out on the pad pretty much determines where they have to go on the cushion which is toward the back of the seat bottom (under your butt but not under your legs) and toward the bottom of the back cushion which would be behind your lower back.

They do get very warm but I only just put them in and haven't really used them except to test them.

 

It sounds like it at least gets the important parts/ areas.

 

I've had a few cars with heated seats and while my wife loves them, I never use them. Of courses living in San Diego has something to do with that. Now, a while back I rented a Cadillac with actual air conditioned seats. Not the ventilated or cooled nonsense but they actually pushed a good amount of chilled air and OMG ladies and gents... I would give my first born for that in my truck

 

Hmmmmmmm!

 

Define a lot of work. Where'd you put your switch?

Also, anyone know if there's a set where you can select butt and back or back only? My back would love me if I could get back only

 

There hasn't bean any show up on the forum yet, and these guys are pretty on top of new things coming out.

 

Well, you first have to remove your seats (not that hard to do).
Next you need to remove all of the plastic trim pieces from the seats and unhook the wires that are in the way of removing the seat covers.
Then you unhook the seat covers and peel them back.

Now comes the hard part. There are metal rods sewn into the seat covers that are connected to cords under the seat cushion with metal hog rings. You need to remove enough of the hog rings to allow access to the center of the cushion where the heating pads go. You have to trim the seat pads to fit within/around the metal rods.
This is where the real fun begins. You need to reconnect the metal rods to the cords through small holes in the thick, squishy seat cushion. Good luck with this part. I gave up trying to reinstall the hog rings and used zip ties instead.

Put everything back together using pictures and notes you took during dis-assembly. Use the other seat for reference.

Note: you will cut yourself numerous times during the above process. Make sure you have a ready supply of bandages available so you don't get blood all over your new seats.

Now you have to run the wiring. Wires go from the seat, under the carpet to your chosen switch location. If you decide to put the switches in the center panel (by the Qi switch) like I did, be prepared to take almost the entire dash (and center console) apart as that is the last piece of the dash that comes out. Then more wires need to run from the switches to the fuse panel where you tap into the panel to provide power. Hint: the fuse marked seat heater is live even when the car is off so don't use that one. Oh, and when you add a fuse tap you won't be able to reinstall the cover on the fuse panel so keep that in mind.

Sound like a lot of work?

 

I don't have a 3rd gen but I installed my heated seats as you describe above and I thought it was worth the effort. Although I have only used mine probably 10 times my passengers like them a lot.

 

I got heated seats without the sunroof. I have began to gather from following this forum that Toyota's Premium Packages seem to vary considerably from truck to truck, or week to week, or something.

As far as the heated seats go; Heated seats and back-up cameras are the only mandatory "options" for any vehicle I buy these days. Nothing is nicer on a cold winter day than a nice warm seat. And Taco has the best seat heaters of any vehicle I have seen. They heat up super quick and the 3 heat ranges are spaced just right.

 

I wish the sun roof was an option outside all of the packages so I could get one with a SR5.

 

Do you have an access cab or double cab? Sunroof doesn't come on access cab. If it's double cab, can you take a picture?