Retrofit heated steering wheel

Anyone know how involved (or if it’s possible) to retrofit a heated steering wheel? A quick search didn’t turn up any threads on this. Curious to know what parts would be needed and about how long it would take to complete.

 

I hadn’t thought about it before, and I’ve never seen it, but I wonder how much money dealerships in the desert Southwest could make by offering an aftermarket cooled steering wheel? Then, offer it only on a few and see if people were willing to pay more for it.

I never realized there was a problem with cold steering wheels, just the hot ones.

 

I would start by searching the interwebs for the harness to the steering wheel and seeing pictures of the different pinouts. If the harness isn't already there, you would need to add at least trigger wires to stand alone switch.

 

Never thought about it too much since my vents are right by my steering wheel at 10 and 2.

 

Previous discussions on this topic have suggested a complete steering wheel replacement would be required.

 

We have the heated steering wheel on our Rav4 prime, many mornings I wish my 4Runner had it. Heated seats and wheel make a huge difference while the cabin air temp is climbing.

 

I started looking into it but when I discovered the wheel is only heated at the 10/2 position it quit. I feel it's a waste of time to not have a 360 degree heated wheel

 

Good point. I’d want to lay hands on one equipped with a heated wheel before investing the time or money to swap the wheel. I drive at 10/2 so I’m okay with a limited portion of the wheel heated, as long as it’s warm enough to matter on those 10-below and colder days.

 

My steering wheel feels heated on the entire left and right side, just not the top and bottom. It works really well and now I can’t have another 4Runner without it.

 

Being only partially heated would annoy me. My BMW has a fully heated wheel and I know as soon as I hit a cold spot on the wheel I'd be reminded about how ridiculous toyota is

 

I started looking into here in Canada when I realized ‘23 model had it (3 months after I took delivery for my ‘22). Finally got pricing for just the steering wheel assembly, and it was much more than I thought it would be, about $1200 Cdn just for the part.

I got new gloves.

 

Agreed. A pair of gloves is better than 10 and 2 heating.

 

i’m sure it’s possible.. but comes at a great cost lol

 

“BMW wants customers to pay a subscription fee to use features the car already has installed, like a heated steering wheel or adaptive cruise control”
https://www.businessinsider.com/bmw-subscription-model-for-features-2020-7?op=1

 

Just another solution (outside of gloves) is a remote start for them cold days. A heated steering wheel would be nice, but a cheaper option is a remote start. Just an idea.

 

Installed mine last week and I have nice gloves, was just curious if anyone had looked into it so thanks for the info, 5six.

 

I've had mine in for about 2 weeks now. It's not AS cold here in Missi'ppi as other places. But we do get some cold days in the winter. But other side of the coin is the summer time.

 

Bmw back peddled on that very quickly. I don't pay any subs on my 21, including the connected app.

 

Glad to hear it. It’s a terrible concept.

 

This may be going off into a rabbit hole, but why on God's green Earth did they decide that was a good idea? I know $$$ is the core thing, but still.

 

Microtransactions and subscriptions have proven to be an effective way to increase customer/user monetization. What makes more sense, a $200 heated seat option added to the sticker or heated seat subscription for $15mo for the next 2-3 years? Subscription fees also bypass the dealer network and generate revenue for the manufacturer directly.

My 4runner has a few subscription options for some pretty lousy services. They hope you sign up for them upon purchase and promptly forget, allowing a few biling cycles to go through once the free trials are up.

 

Gotch ya. Back in 2008 I bought a GMC Sierra right after GM had the gov't bail them out. In the process, I signed up for a LIFETIME subscription for XM. Anytime I changed a vehicle, I just had to pay a $75 "transfer fee" (which is BS for pushing a few buttons but whatever). I think at the time, it cost me $350. They don't even offer that plan anymore. SiriusXM now is losing money because of me.

Oh well.

 

What years have factory heated steering wheels? I'm thinking of trying to find a fairly cheap (compared to brand new) used one from Ebay to experiment. The only issue I see is the steering wheel controls are different on newer models and not all buttons are in the same location as previous years. Also, some trim levels would have functions on the steering wheels other trims never had. Just another thing to consider. So one would have to consider possibly swapping the wiring harness as well (if not just plug and play)...or have a custom harness made...

 

2023 is the first and only year for 5th gens. I think its only available on the premium packages (ORP, Limited, Pro,)