lesz

I have a question that I hope that someone who has a 2019 ES will be able to answer.

I notice that the wood steering wheel on the 2019 ES has leather around the outside of the wood portions of the wheel. With the heated steering wheel, the wood portions that are partially wrapped with leather heat up or do just the parts of the wheel that are fully wrapped with leather (near 9 and 3 o'clock) heat up?

Thanks

bc6152

I don't have a 2019 yet Les but looked at one on Thursday. The salesman told me that for 2019 the entire steering wheel heats - not just the 3 and 9 positions on my 2013... I don't know about your 2017 if they changed it between 2013 and 2017...

lesz

Thanks, Bob. Perhaps, someone can confirm that what the sales person told you is correct.

For the Generation 6 ES, after the 2016 re-fresh, the area of the wheel that gets heat is a little bigger than it was for the 2013-2015 ES, but it still was restricted to the areas on the wheel that are covered with leather around 3 and 9 o'clock.

In recent years, the safety experts have come to say that holding the wheel at the 3 and 9 o'clock positions is the safest way to drive, and I've come to make doing so my practice. So, for me, it isn't a deal breaker if those are the only areas that are heated, but it would be a nice bonus to have the entire wheel heated so that you would not have to briefly hold the unheated areas when doing something like making a turn. On the other hand, I do prefer the look of the Generation 6 ES wheel with more wood at the top and bottom. So, I suppose it is, for me, 6 of one an half a dozen of the other.

mikemu30

For what its worth, the latest gen RX heats the wheel only at 9 and 3. No wood which I'm not a fan of.

mcomer

The wood-trimmed heated steering wheel (with front windshield deicer!) code "WV" does
heat the entire circumference of the wheel. Note that you can either select it using the
lower dash button with a choice of two levels or you can engage the "concierge" soft
button in the climate screen and the system will control the seat heat and the wheel heat
based on outside temp and the temp you dial into the system.
The F-Sport wheel heats the perforated sections from roughly "2 O'clock to 5 and on the left
from about 7 O'clock to 11)

bc6152

OK Thanks... Better info than even the salesman gave me... I like the idea of dialing in a temp...

lesz

Thanks for the additional information.

The temperature of the heated wheel on the 2013 ES that I had was nice when it was below 0 outside, but, when it was, say, 20-40 degrees outside, the heated wheel was almost too hot, and, after a few minutes, I usually felt a need to turn it off. On my 2017 ES, the heated steering wheel doesn't produce nearly as much heat as did the wheel on the 2013. With the 2017, the level of heat from the wheel is about right when the outside temperature is in the 20-40 degree range, but, when the outside temperature is 0, more heat from the wheel would be nice. So, with the 2019 ES, having options to vary the temperature does sound like a nice upgrade.

calgold06

I have a 2019 ES350. Entire steering wheel heats up. Outside part of wood area is leather. Just to answer your question more preciously, I left the steering wheel heater on for about 10 min on #2 setting (only 2 settings on 2019 unlike 3 settings on my old 2013) and took temps with infra red thermometer. Here are the readings:

2- 4 O'clock - completely covered with leather- 95F
4-5 - partially covered with leather- 86F - on the leather
5 to 7 - completely covered with leather- 95F
7-9 - partially covered with leather- 86F - on the leather
9-10 - completely covered with leather- 95F
10-2 - partially covered with leather- 86F- on the leather

SuperMido

That's an awesome super detailed response! Thank you!

mcomer

calgold06, are you confusing the rotary dial(s) that control the heated seat(s) with the single push button that
engages the heated steering wheel? We have a 2018 ES300h and had a 2014 ES300h and they did not have
a multilevel steering wheel heater. Choice of too much or not at all.

calgold06

You are correct...on the 2013, it was either on or off....I mistook it for seat heater. On the 2019, there are 2 settings for steering wheel heater.

dapper505

Yes all of the leather on the entire wheel heats up (thankfully). No more 9 oclock and 3 oclock