Add seat heaters?

Hey guys, I got pretty curious about heated seats recently and I decided to go poking around the Inter web for some help.

In my ‘13 DCSB Off-Road, there are locations in the fuse box that say “seat heater” but no relay or wiring to it. Is this just standard for all Tacomas so they don’t have to make a different part?

I remember reading somewhere that many trucks have the heated seat wiring inside the upholstery, but not the actual switches. Is this true? I assumed my Off-road was pretty top of the line. Did any 2nd gen tacos have factory heated seats?

I realize that’s a lot of info, so any help would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you guys in advance!

 

Bro....it's a pickup not a Cadillac!!!

But I'ma follow this thread in case you figure it out.

 

As far as I know only the Limited trim level had heated leather seats, this was only available on the 13-15 model year 2nd gens.

Unles you had a Limited donor truck it would most likely be cost prohibitive to add factory heated seats as you need the seats, modules, and switches at a minimum to make them work.

 

There is a "kit" from Toyota but I'm not sure if it's available.

 

You might be able to go aftermarket, a real Toyota parts cannon is not going to help you. I went down this road a couple of years after I got my 2015 TRD, found a sport model with in a wreaking yard with only 4K on it so I stripped out the seats and the modules, switches as I thought this would be plug and play. Nope, under the seats are the wires but they don’t have the connections on they they are just capped off, dash has some connections but not all. Big problem is under the hood, main fuse panel has a pony panel attached and this is where the seats draw their power from. There is no wiring to the connections in this panel for the fuse or the relay nor is there wiring from it to the seat system. Can be made to work but it a lot of work and requires you being able to get all the necessary parts off the wreck. Pic a parts places are not fussy about cutting wires but main auto salvages want to sell you the whole harness plus the place I deal with wanted me to buy the main fuse panel to just get the pony panel. Ended up selling the seats and modules in the end as it just got over what I wanted to be into. Went with an aftermarket kit in the end.

 

What about something like this?
https://www.target.com/p/zone-tech-...VQh6tBh0OaAJuEAQYECABEgIwyfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

I have taken apart many seats and that's usually the easy part.
Seat cover upholstery is usually attached to metal rods built deep into the seat (every seat is different) with one time use hog rings, that you remove with cutters. And install new ones with hog ring pliers.
With the seat taken out and placed on a bench of comfortable working surface that lets you move around/manipulate the seat to see and gain access to whatever parts, trim pieces, etc you need to remove to get out of the way, to start taking it apart.

From there, heating elements usually come in the form of a pad, that you stick onto the foam, and wires come out the back.

There are probably kits out there to retrofit this to vehicles.

The hard part I think would be electrical work. If there is wiring, modules, you name it.
I've even seen a guy put B8 S5 seats into his 2nd gen that usually offer leather, bolsters, power adjustment, and heating.
Some seats even also offer cooling, which requires the leather be perforated to suck air through, and a tiny little fan at the bottom that looks like a desktop computer fan, sucking air down through the seat. For luxury cars with leather seats. And that fan has a flexible rubber gasket around it to apply full vacuum force to only the seat, almost like the way a radiator shroud works.

If there are plug and play standalone kits, I wonder if that's a workaround. Like if they have you wire it to a power source, and a controller, that works as either on/off, or adjustable number mode to control heat level.

This type of stuff is usually what makes up a 'cold weather package' and would be nice to have it all on the truck:
-heated seats
-heated steering wheel
-good sideview mirrors with things like auto-dim, anti-dazzle, heating (usually operated by an outside temp sensor when it detects cold, automatically)

I think the current Ford Ranger offers some of this stuff in a certain package.

If a kit is *not* available new, there are even cars with heaters installed that (if found in a junkyard) can be carefully removed and re-used. It depends on the seat. Some of their heating pads are strongly adhered to the foam staying with it and ripping pieces off, not meant to be removed. Others are lightly adhered, and can be removed. Which is fine, they don't fall off in use, with a leather cover holding them down and person sitting down on it.

Other features vehicles in places that have winter also may include, such as Canada and Europe
-Eberspacher heater, runs off fuel. Remote controlled. Pre-heats the vehicle interior prior to getting in
-engine block or oil pan heater, possibly either powered by the Eberspacher, or a separate pad that unfortunately may have to plug in somewhere. Which I think in colder places it's even common for parking lots to have plugs for that.

Yeah exactly. You leave your rear wheel drive Cadillac in the garage during winter.
4x4 has the clearance and drivetrain to do it all, including snow and ice.
Which is useless if you're freezing your ass off and can't see out the sideviews which Toyota made from Dollar Store handheld mirrors.

It would cost Toyota too much though. Imagine instead of building a $10k truck to sell for $40k, they added $300 into production for this; they'd make less profit.
They already know everyone's going to eat up whatever garbage they produce regardless even without technology (3rd gen)
I wouldn't be surprised if the Tacoma is considered their basic bread and butter vehicle to help the brand stay afloat and make up for lack of sales on other models given 1.how many people buy Tacomas and the fact that 2.most people are not dying to buy a Corolla

*if* these trucks last a long time, especially with owner care, and eventually becomes paid off
it makes sense to try and add an upgrade
rather than the other option of spending more on a "newer" one that has the same frame, crappy transmission, worse motor, etc.

 

I put Katzkin Leather in my truck and added their seat heaters. Got the kit through a vendor on TW during a black Friday sale and did the work myself. Not sure but you may be able to get the heater kit by itself.

https://katzkin.com/degreez/