You first. But seriously, I demand Toyota for a fully heated steering really has nothing to do with safety. Why people enjoy to make irrelevant comments against other people just to defend Toyota? My F-150 has fully heated steering wheel and I really like it. Do not tell me you only hold on the same 2~5 and 7~10 heated section when making a turn... You touch the entire wheel! That is the trend, thanks.
I make a conscious effort to not place my hands and arms in harm's way. If partial heating of the wheel acts as a reminder, all the better. Google a bit, to learn the sad results of what happens to drivers who have air bags inflate while they hold the wheel in a way that place their hands and arms in front of the airbag.
4 Things You Didn't Learn in Driver's Ed "A cop I know was once fiddling with the in-car computer with his right hand while driving the car with his left hand at 12 (the top of the steering wheel, for those of you young enough to be unfamiliar with analog clocks. We know you're out there.) When the distracted police officer smashed into a stopped car, the force of the airbag deployment flung his hand back into his face, and he broke out his front teeth with his own hand. That, my friends, is why you don't drive with a hand at 12 o'clock. The 10 and 2 position, once the common wisdom of driver's ed classes, is also dead (or at least it should be) thanks to airbags. The proper position is 9 and 3, while the Italian-esque 8 and 4 is more than acceptable. Don't do those hand-over-hand turns anymore, either. Most modern steering wheels have "thumb hangers" that naturally put your hands at 9 and 3 so you won't smack yourself if an airbag deploys."
You guys either can't read my posts or intentionally to ignore my points. Never once I said it is safe to drive with my hands at 12 o'clock position as you keep talking about... I prefer a fully heated steering wheel so when I make a turn I don't have to touch the part of the steering wheel where is cold. (Is this really related to safety???) Why is it so difficult to understand? Why keep throwing the safety thing because only you know it??????? I understand the safety position at 10 and 2 o'clock my friends Oniki and Lee Jay, please stop already. I am done on this with you two so I wish you have a happy and safe 2018!
Ok I'm with @memasterac on this one. A half-heated wheel feels weird. Even if you don't do hand-over-hand turns, you still have to shuffle the steering wheel which means you will come in contact with a cold part of the steering wheel. Honestly, it's a wheel, not an airplane controller. What's wrong with a fully heated steering wheel? It's like saying why have heated seat bottom and seatbacks when the bottom is just fine since it's your bum that is cold. Well no, a heated seatback is quite comfortable and a nice feature to have.
It would be nice to have as much heating element contacting fingers, hands, bottom, and back as possible if I paid the extra money for the highest-level trim. My guess is that Toyota wanted to save a bit of money by concentrating the heating elements on the wheel at its sides only.
Your back is against the back of the seat 100% of the time. Your hands are NOT at 9 and 3 more like 1-5% of the time.
Yeah well clearly you only drive straight 95-99% of the time. Some of us live in cities that have shorter streets or that require multiple turns.
I do too. Trust me, there's no real reason to have your hands off of 9 and 3 more than a few percent of the time (parking, mostly). The rest of the time you can and should drive with your hands only on 9 and 3.
You're preaching to the choir here but again, luxury isn't about practicality. It's about superfluous things and a fully heated steering wheel certainly falls under that (Wait til others hear about the heated door panels from Mercedes)
It's just wasted energy, nothing more. Personally, I prefer driving gloves to the heated wheel anyway. I got some hybrid ones at Costco where the thumb and index work on touch screens.
I'm going to agree with @memasterac on this one as well. Both my Highlander and Prime only heat a portion of the steering wheel and although my hands never vary at all from the absolute safest position (even while I'm texting, eating and reading the newspaper), I find the hot/cold contrast as I turn the wheel less comfortable than it would be if the entire wheel was warm and cozy... I am not arguing that much of the heat generated at the top of the wheel will do nothing more than help defrost my windshield but I would be 100% OK with that.
Considering my winter temperatures can be more severe than yours, yes. I also religiously use the engine block heater, fully block the lower grille and run dedicated winter tires on steel rims.
And ? I find that a good pair of gloves is a great solution to cold hands. I don't bother heating up the steering wheel.