I would love to have that but priced and available especially for my light cream color..
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I pay little to no attention to back arm rests as I never sit back there and very rarely have back seat passengers. BUT, those are absolutely beautiful and I would be willing to spend a few hundred dollars more on the MSRP to have one like that.
Hello!
I'm doing some research on my own as I want to get an upgrade to a Lexus ES. Came across your thread about the armrest which led me down a pretty big rabbit hole but I think I got some answers. The complete diagrams of the rear seats and part numbers from this Japanese auto parts website are included. The fourth picture is the one needed for our conversation (though the topic of the other rear "executive" features did pop up and are included in the diagram as the "separate" seating in the 4:2:4 seat ratio), looks like if you want to do the conversion, you need 72830 (check coloring) and 72806b. Now unfortunately I have yet to come up blank with how to remove the old one and install the new one also its at least $660 dollars and that's before taxes and shipping fees from japan. If you have any new information regarding how to take the old ones out do let me know, because despite how useless this swap would be for most people, I carry a people in my rear seats often and when I make the upgrade to the ES I'd like to give them an upgrade (and also have bragging rights with other ES owners!
Great find! I'll send that website a message to make sure 71530 actually contains all those parts. If it does I'm thinking of just getting them shipped and seeing if it works out.
Alright, order placed. We will see how it goes. I ended up selecting a European spec vehicle for the armrest parts. They had more options that closely resembled the North American market: https://yoshiparts.com/parts/car/lex...amItemId=80778
The parts are backordered 3-4 weeks. I confirmed I am ok waiting for the parts to come in and thats about it for now. It's a waiting game until I get a shipping confirmation in hopefully 4 weeks.
Small update: the new armrest has been delivered and the shipping was insanely fast. It came from Japan and took 1.5 days from FedEx pre-ship notice to being on my doorstep. I'll take some more detailed photos in better light tomorrow and I'll install it on the weekend. I'll document the install process.
First impressions are pretty good. The materials match and size-wise it looks like it will fit no problem. The biggest question is around the hinge installation. I ordered the part that comes fully assembled with the hinge and trunk hatch because it was cheaper. My original thought was to unscrew the old armrest off the existing hinge and drop this new one in place but it appears the plastic has a slightly different shape to fit the new cupholders when the armrest is in the up position. On top of that the materials of the armrest wrap around the hinge to the backside and are glued/taped so separating the two will not be very clean. The new plan is to pull the rear seat out and swap the entire assembly.
One other thing to note is the hatch door lock. The new hatch has an empty hole for the lock and it looks like the lock is press-fit in and is probably a pain to remove. The doors look identical so I'll swap my hatch door over.
I see that the armrest already comes installed with wiring. I wonder if the rear controls for the audio could be plug-and-play? saw a russian forum post about a person modifying their Lexus GS and retrofitting that feature. Said everything was plug and play including installing the heated seats by swapping out a seat couchon with one that has heater coils. Wonder if that is the case for the ES as well.
I doubt the wiring harness exists in the North American cars since they're made in factories that don't even offer the option, but it's something I would consider trying to get working. I'd like to see the wiring diagram to see what each of these wires do. Yoshi parts doesn't have the seat heaters available but I would be ok with only getting the bottom row of controls to work.
really? that's good news. i guess ill see them when i install the armrest and see if it all fits
Edit: On second search, Yoshi has the seat heaters for the Japanese 300h model in stock. If the wiring exists and has power I'll go all in and order heaters and the controls.
