JDM Prius Steering Wheel

Thanks to everyone who posted on this thread, I am a new 2012 Prius Plus owner and just installed the piano black steering wheel. Because of this thread, install only took about 45 minutes tops from start to finish! Thanks again!!!

 

Here is a pic....

 

Nice

HTC One V ? 2

 

i'm about to swap my steering wheel. browsed through this thread and saw some mentions of alignment issues in the beginning but no more towards the end. Were those isolated incidents? Did someone find a fix? Or is everyone else just less OCD about their steering?

 

Wish I could get one

HTC One V ? 2

 

Simply a matter of the the splines not lining up exactly as the OEM... car goes straight, wheel is cocked off to the side...

Doesn't bother you... the little knobbies are at 9 and 1, instead of 10 and 2.... motor on, there's no alignment problem.

Took mine in for summer to winter changeover, informed Federal Law now requires also having TPMS on my winter rims. Dealer special: $99, 4 TPMS transmitters, balance, and realign, which, of course, included adjusting the tie rods...

Bad case of obsessive... I keep checking, but I think it's straight... unfortunately, I'm not so sure about the shark fin and the RAV-4 side moulding

 

Same issue here. Wheel is off a bit to the left, maybe not 9 & 1 bad, but it's definitely not at 10 & 2.

Now the debate is whether to pull it back off and readjust a click to the right, or tweak the tie rods.

 

I pulled it back apart and moved the steering wheel to the next available "position" towards the right - now the wheel is just a bit off to the right.

So, there's no way to get the steering wheel centered with this JDM wheel. What a POS...

If you're brave enough, you can adjust each tie rod by equal amounts in the opposite direction to center the steering wheel. However, by doing so, the steering rack will be off-center. Since it is a small amount, it may or may not matter...but buyer beware.

 

looks like they have a pretty good price on eBay right now for a sport version...

Mit Toyota Prius Hybrid 2010 2013 Black Wood Leather Steering Wheel Sports Piano | eBay

 

You now know that adjusting the tie rods fixes the problem, and you can do this at your next alignment.

Nice find. There are (at least) two sport versions. This one has the more aggressive thumb rests but no "cancer grips" in the top wood. If you're in the LA area, you can pick up the more common sport version from nigel-jdmparts.com for $190 paid in cash.

 

Sort of. It does throw your steering rack off-center a bit, which is a buyer beware.

 

I thought these weren't for sale in the US because of air bag issues ?

 

What issues and where did you hear this? You salvage and re-use the OEM airbag and all connectors, nothing has changed. JDM products are normally not for sale in the US unless an US retailer imports them.

 

Where else do you find everything you ever wanted to know about a Prius - Priuschat. There is a thread in this forum called wheelskins. In there someone appended ...

Again, SIGMA isn't selling the wheel to US Consumers anymore per their website as well as an email response from them. Apparently there were airbag compatibility issues.

Read more: http://priuschat.com/threads/wheelskins-steering-wheel-cover.66559/page-3#ixzz2SkE3EdFh​

I don't know if anyone ever said what the issue was with the airbag. It is a shame, because their leather steering wheels look really nice.​

 

Thanks for that link. It appears from the posts they're referring to the factory all leather steering wheel found on JDM Prius upper trims, not the JDM aftermarket wood/leather wheel mentioned in the OP.

 

Hmm. Wonder what the difference is. You wouldn't think that putting a wood top on it would make it ok vs all leather.

 

The specific steering wheel that Sigma pulled from the website appears to be a JDM OEM product. Most of us have the aftermarket version and there are many manufacturers of aftermarket steering wheels for the Prius. I'm not sure of the reason for the airbag incompatibility of JDM factory wheel on the US Prius; however, I do know that fellow member ucsmfu had trouble fitting the JDM piano black wood steering wheel on the Canadian Prius as the back cover on Canadian Prius is wider than the US Prius and he had to make some modification to make it fit. Perhaps JDM OEM steering wheel is designed to be airbag-compatible only on Japanese Prius.

If you get the aftermarket wheel in the OP, you shouldn't have any fitment or airbag issues.

 

Still thinking about this....hmmm

LG-MS870 ? 2

 

Do it...Great feel to the steering wheel and hated the stock small diameter wheel.