Is it just mine,or does the heat not go around the entire steering wheel? What a bad design to only put it on the area below the hand notches! Do the engineers at Lexus not realize that most drivers hold the entire wheel when turning?? At -23 this morning it was brutal
My last car had the common sense to heat the whole wheel,which is the way this car should have been built.

 

Yup, they want you to hold the wheel at 9h15 haha. Sometimes when I turn the wheel I try to avoid touching it at other areas

My wife's F30 is the same if that's any consolation

 

Wear gloves next time...

 

Just a thought --- maybe it is a design intent by Lexus --- in case the heated steering wheel gets malfunctioned and overheats, at least the driver can hold other areas of the steering wheel while managing to get it fixed?

EDIT: After looking at the steering wheel again, I realized that I forgot the heated steering wheel can always be turned on and off. In case of malfunction, the fuse should take care of it. So the reason is design intent or/and cost.

Personally, it is not not bothering me as I wear thin gloves all the time and I have my hands on 3' o' clock and 9 o' clock positions most of the time. . The heat is adequate for me.

 

I wonder if the thinking of the Lexus designers not heating the top half, is due to the fact that much of their line had or have the half wooden style wheel, which in my mind always looked very old person oriented.

 

Good observation.

What you said is probably the real reason.

It is probably a design by intent in the sense that some Lexus vehicles have the wooden top half and for Lexus to use one single design for the heating across the lineup, the heating of the top half has been omitted. So it is related to cost..

 

Now I don't feel so bad about not having that on my '14.

Not that I mind wearing gloves, really. It's just not safe to travel without gloves and hat, here.

 

It's pretty dumb not to heat the whole thing.

Be thankful you don't have the "wood" style steering wheel. It's terrible. I had a loaner and there were about two 6" sections that were heated and the rest was cold plastic.

 

Sorry to bump an older thread, but last weekend was nasty here in Phila..
Drove the new RC 350, hit the steering wheel heat, and yep, no top section.

Funny thing is, on my Jeep Grand Cherokee, (with wood on the upper part), that gets heat all the way around....

So its doable technically, but apparently Lexus chooses not to....

 

+1. My 335i was heated all the way around. It's disappointing that the Lexus is not, but it's still better than no heat at all.

 

Am I reading this right...... Are you guys saying on the 2014 IS350 and the 2015 RC 350 your steering wheel has no heat on the top half at the 2 & 10 positions?

On my 2015 IS350 awd the heat is located at the 2 & 10 positions on the top and the 4 & 8 positions on the bottom. This is to encourage you to hold the steering wheel with your hands in the proper position. In the winter I will hold the wheel mostly at the 2 & 10 upper position and in the summer I hold it at the "wrong" 12 o'clock position with one hand.

 

Let's just make this clear. The perforated leather (the part of steering wheel with tiny holes) is heated. The people in this thread are complaining that the part of the steering wheel that doesn't have holes is not heated.

 

Thanks for the clarification. I guessing that's by design to promote correct hand positions, but I agree, the whole wheel or least the entire top half heated would be nice.

 

This is the reason.

They make the steering wheel cores and then place the leather/NuLuxe and wood around them. They only heat between the 10/2 and 8/4 positions because those are the areas that are always leather trimmed. If you heat areas that have wood on them, the extreme cold and then extreme heat can and will crack the wood or its finish over time.

Some of you guys have some amazing imaginations. Keep both hands on the wheel pizza boys.

Maybe that have never encountered someone with hands so large that they hold the entire steering wheel. You should call them and let them know about your unique situation.