Lumbar seat heater

My wife has developed lower back issues and the spinal doctor suggested a lumbar area seat heater may help on longer drives. I guess aftermarket is the way to go but I have no experiences with this. I suppose on-line shopping will give dozens of suggestions but I'd like to hear from someone with personal experience with this.

2019 double cab

John M

 

What year? Assuming you are 3rd Gen

My wife has back issues sometimes, and I was hesitant not having heated seats available on road trips if it acts up.

Not sure if it fits your needs, but I did 400W anytime AC mod in the cab and added a short extension cord from inverter to under the passenger seat. I then took her regular 120v heating pad and put on the seat. I noticed most of the heating pads are only 130-200W power, and that pure resistive load doesn’t care about a modified sine wave inverter.

 

Not a bad idea Gutentight, thank you for the suggestion. Now I have to research the 400 watt anytime mod.

 

Reply back here if you find info on it. I'd be interested in something like this as well

 

My 2021 TRD Sport came with adjustable lumbar support and heated seats. I use them when my back is sore and works great and keeps your ass warm in the winter.

 

My 16 sport has those as well, but the it's only the butt that is heated, not the lumbar

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-ac-outlet-in-cab-and-400w-anytime.505598/#post-15813148

Side note - I decided to splice in a short piece of extension cord instead of the outlet in the write up, since my purpose is for trips when I might have the rear seats folded or stuff in back.

 

Our concern was solved partly through Gutentight's suggestion. I thought what the heck give an extension cord a try. I have a short heavy duty extension cord, just plugged it into the factory inverter plug, ran it through the back slider window and plugged in our lumbar heating pad. Tried it idling on the 400 watt setting and it was fine. Then took it for a short drive where the factory inverter switched to 100 watts - and it worked on that setting as well. I tried it twice to make certain it wasn't a fluke the first time. Of course I'll add that the heating pad is pretty old, can't even find the specs on it. A newer and hotter pad might have different results. Thanks to all for the suggestions. John M

 

There is also a 12v port inside the center console that a inverter can be plugged into (much like a cigarette lighter) and a heating pad can be plugged into that inverter.
At least my 17 set has it and I use the outlet for my refrigerator.

 

You can buy a seat cover that plugs into the 12v in the cab. You can get them heated and massaging. Cheap at like 50 bucks. Bought one for my ex because I didn’t want to gut the seat to install heating elements. Worked good and was adjustable. Cheap and easy fix. Not the prettiest

 

I checked out my heated seat yesterday and it heats up my butt and also my back felt warm. Maybe it is just my body heat or the lumbar heats up not sure . You can't check out the heated seats unless you are sitting in it.