I recently purchased a 1995 SC300 that was originally sold new in Southern California. It has a manual transmission. The owner's manual on page 21 describes front seat heaters as though they were standard equipment; there is no mention of "optional" or "if equipped." But my car has only a decorative Lexus plate where the manual shows the on-off switches, just behind the shifter boot on the console. Question for the experts: Were all 1995 SC300s delivered with heated seats, and some (possibly those sold into warm climates) not provided with switches? If so, could I get heated seats by just installing switches? Or is it more likely that my car has none of the wiring required in the seats and the rest of the car? Thanks. Jim in Seattle

 

Heated seats were an option. The wiring for the switches should be present under the console, but you won't have the heating elements in the seats.

 

^^ This. The wiring should be there on all cars. You will need to order or obtain the heated seat switch module. That will bolt into the spot on your shift bezel taken up by the Lexus logo blank piece. You would need to obtain SC300/400 seats which originally came with heater elements. You could tear apart your current seats to add that feature but that's an expensive project more suited to an upholstery shop.

SC3001995, I have nearly the same model you have (original California-spec SC3 5-speed) and once you ticked the manual transmission box on the order sheet you couldn't get traction control or heated seats which were bundled into a "Winter Package" for automatic models.

2023 Edit Correction: There was a "Winter Package" option but it was NOT just for automatics. TRAC (traction control) was only ever available for automatic models but heated seats were available as an option in both SC300 5-speed manual models and automatic models.

The built in body harness wiring in the center console has a different connector for the automatic SC300/SC400's and for the 5-speed manual SC300's. The 5-speed chassis cars have a flat console body connector for the seat heater switch assembly and the automatic SC's got a slightly larger connector with more pins.

This is because for automatics the TRAC on/off button is zip-tied from the factory (little neat zip ties) to the wiring for the seat heater switches but all those wires go down into the one larger connector.

For the 5-speed models the same seat heater switch module has no additional TRAC wiring so it just goes to that one small flat connector.

Since these assemblies are probably not easy to come by used in 2023 you can always turn an automatic seat heater switch assembly into a manual-compatible one by removing the wiring associated with the TRAC on/off button and de-pinning the wires to that connector.

Then you will have to substitute a different connector (another matched Toyota OEM or generic male and female connector set) with the pins going to the right locations in order to get everything connected. Last I checked the OEM 5-speed seat heat connector for the button assembly side was discontinued... so a substitute male and female connector to replace both ends is needed.

 

Thanks for that information. That's what I was afraid of. Unless wired seats turn up in wrecking yards, I guess I'll be living without heated seats! Darn.

 

Thanks for this info. Very useful. I suspected my seats were not wired, so unless some nice ones turn up in a wrecking yard, I guess I'll be doing without heated seats.

Odd that Lexus would categorically not offer heated seats with manual transmissions. Not logical to me. If anything, if I lived in snow I might want a manual for the better pinpoint drivetrain control. Strange.

 

I have a federal spec 5-speed SC with heated seats so the winter package must have been a California spec deal or something.