All-in-all we love our 2019 Toyota Highlander with sport grill pictured above.
We bought it because with two young boys, we wanted a 7-seater for carting their friends around.
It’s been great for cycling (with Thule 4-bike rack) and skiing (just slide the skis in the back – no rack needed).
However, since we live in a climate that is cold in winter and the fact we ski weekly, seat warmers are a huge deal. There’s nothing like a warm seat after a day or evening on the slopes.
Seat warmers are not unusual in vehicles these days. It’s like air conditioning – a very standard offer. However, for the first few months of winter that we owned the Highlander, we couldn’t figure out how to turn the seat warmers on. We knew it must have it but the “on” switch eluded us.
Toward the end of ski season, I discovered the elusive seat warmer “on” switch (for front seats only). Here it is.
Here’s a photo of the switches up close.
As you can see there are switches for both front seats.
Are there seat warmers for the rear seats?
No, the rear seats do not have seat warmers much to the chagrin of our kids. We opted for the captain rear seats with bench in third row, but none of those seats enjoy seat warmers (unlike our Audi A7 which has seat warmers front and back).
Do the front seat warmers get really warm?
No, the front seat warmers don’t get all that warm. While they heat up reasonably fast, they aren’t very warm at the highest setting. It’s actually disappointing compared to seat heat temperatures in other vehicles.
Is there more than one temperature option?
Yes, as you can see in the photo above, you can adjust the temperature of the seat heat but because they don’t get very hot even at the highest setting, we always crank it to the highest setting.
Does the back portion of the seats warm up?
Sadly, no the back portion of the seat does NOT heat up. Just the seat portion.
Do the seat warmers heat up quickly?
Overall, the heating and cooling speed in the Toyota Highlander is very fast. This is our third Toyota vehicle (we had an Echo and Venza in the past) and the heat/cooling systems kick into gear very fast.
The seat warmers are no exception. You feel the warmth very quickly.