Where the RAV4 heated steering wheel, wiper de-icer and heated seat buttons are, and how to use them

Quick picks

What the heated wheel, wiper de-icer and seat heaters actually do

So the heated wheel, the wiper de-icer, the seat heaters and the seat ventilators are four separate features, and each one has its own control. It helps to know exactly what each one heats before you go looking for the buttons.

• The heated steering wheel warms the grip of the steering wheel. Basically, only the sides of the steering wheel heat, roughly where your hands sit at 2 to 4 o'clock and 8 to 10 o'clock. The top and bottom of the steering wheel stay cold. Toyota's manual doesn't mention the cold top and bottom. But a lot of owners describe the same thing, so a wheel that only heats on the sides is normal and not a fault.
• The windshield wiper de-icer heats thin wires in the bottom of the windshield, right where the wipers rest. Basically, the de-icer is there to keep ice from building up on the wiper blades and the glass under them. The de-icer does not clear the whole windshield. You can actually see the thin heating lines at the bottom of the glass if you look closely.
• The seat heaters warm the seat cushion and seat back. On a 2019 to 2025 RAV4, the front seats have one of two kinds of switch, and I explain both below.
• The seat ventilators, on RAV4s that have them, are small fans that pull air from inside the car through the tiny holes in the seat. Something to note is that ventilated seats aren't air conditioned. The fans only move the air that's already inside the car.

How to tell which version of the controls you have

So for the heated wheel, de-icer and seat controls, there are really only two versions. Every RAV4 from 2019 to 2025 has physical buttons, and the 2026 RAV4 has touchscreen controls.

• If your RAV4 is a 2019 to 2025, including the Prime plug-in hybrid, you'll have a row of small physical buttons. That row is low on the dash, left of the steering column. The size of your gauge screen, which is the screen behind the steering wheel, doesn't matter here. The 7-inch and 12.3-inch gauge screen versions use the same buttons in the same spots. And the heated wheel, de-icer and seat heaters have no setting in the gauge screen menus.
• If your RAV4 is a 2026, you won't find a heated wheel button or a de-icer button anywhere on the dash. The heated wheel and de-icer controls are on the touchscreen, in the climate bar that stays on the screen no matter which app you have open.

And keep in mind that you only get the buttons for features your RAV4 actually has. On a RAV4 without a heated wheel or a de-icer, that spot in the button row is just blank. If you're not sure whether your RAV4 has these features, my Weather Package guide goes through which trims got them.

Where the heated steering wheel and de-icer buttons are on a 2019 to 2025 RAV4

Here's the button row under the left side of the dash in a 2020 RAV4 Limited, with the wiper de-icer button third from the left and the heated steering wheel button second from the right, both lit up, from ToyotaJeff Reviews' video.

So the heated steering wheel button and the wiper de-icer button are in a row of small buttons low on the dash, to the left of the steering column. The row sits below the left air vent, about level with your left knee. And the left spoke of the steering wheel partly hides that row of buttons, which is why so many owners miss those buttons. The spoke is the part of the steering wheel that runs from the rim to the center.

Here's the order of the buttons in that row, from left to right, using the 2023 to 2025 RAV4 Hybrid manual. The 2019 manual shows the same row.

1. The dash brightness dial. Basically, this dial makes the gauges and dash lights brighter or dimmer.
2. The Automatic High Beam button. Automatic High Beams is a feature that switches your high beams on and off by itself, depending on traffic ahead.
3. The wiper de-icer button. Its symbol is a windshield with wavy heat lines along the bottom.
4. The camera button, if your RAV4 has the Panoramic View Monitor. That's Toyota's name for the camera view that shows the car from above.
5. The heated steering wheel button. Its symbol is a steering wheel with wavy heat lines.
6. The ODO TRIP button, on 2023 to 2025 RAV4s with the 12.3-inch gauge screen. This button switches between the odometer and the trip meters. On RAV4s with the 7-inch gauge screen, ODO TRIP is a knob in the gauge cluster instead.
7. The power liftgate button, if your RAV4 has a power liftgate. This button opens and closes the back hatch.

So the heated steering wheel button sits right beside the power liftgate button on a lot of RAV4s. That matters, because without looking, it's easy to press the liftgate button when you meant to press the heated wheel button.

And one owner found a simple fix for that. He stuck a small clear furniture bumper pad on the heated steering wheel button, so he can find the heated wheel button by feel. That link is an Amazon search, since any small clear bumper pad will do.

How to use the heated steering wheel on a 2019 to 2025 RAV4

1. Start the car. The heated steering wheel only works when the car is on.
2. Press the heated steering wheel button once. You'll see a small light come on in the heated steering wheel button, and that's how you know the heated wheel is on.
3. Give the heated wheel a minute or so. One owner says he feels warmth in about a minute, and a Toyota dealer video says the wheel reaches full heat in about three minutes.
4. Press the heated steering wheel button again to turn the heated wheel off. The light in the button goes out.

Now the 2019 to 2025 heated steering wheel has only one heat level, so there's no high or low. And several owners say the heated wheel heats up fast, then drops to a lower, steady warmth. So if the wheel feels hot at first and then a little milder, that's normal.

How to use the wiper de-icer on a 2019 to 2025 RAV4

1. Start the car.
2. Press the wiper de-icer button once. The light in the de-icer button comes on, and the heating wires along the bottom of the windshield start warming.
3. Give the de-icer a few minutes. The de-icer is slow. In a test on a frozen 2020 RAV4, the driver's wiper came free after a couple of minutes.
4. Press the de-icer button again if you want to turn the de-icer off early. Otherwise, the de-icer turns itself off after a while, and the light goes out.

So how long does the de-icer stay on? Toyota's manual only says the de-icer shuts off "after a period of time," and it never gives a number. Owners say the de-icer runs for about 15 minutes. But that time isn't confirmed by Toyota, so I wouldn't count on an exact number.

How to use the heated and cooled seats on a 2019 to 2025 RAV4

So the front seat switches are in the strip just below the climate controls, under the A/C panel. And there are two kinds of front seat switch, depending on whether your seats are heated only, or heated and ventilated.

Heated-only seats: the rocker switch

If your seats only heat, each front seat has a rocker switch marked HI at the top and LO at the bottom. Basically, a rocker switch is a switch you press at one end or the other.

1. Press the top of the rocker switch for high heat.
2. Press the bottom of the rocker switch for low heat.
3. Look for the light on the rocker switch. When the light is on, the seat heater is on.
4. To turn the seat heater off, put the rocker switch back in the middle. Toyota calls that middle spot "the neutral position."

Heated and ventilated seats: two stacked buttons per seat

If your seats heat and cool, each front seat has two buttons, one above the other. The top button has a seat with heat lines, and it controls the seat heat. The bottom button has a seat with a fan, and it controls the seat cooling.

1. Press the top button once for high heat. Three small bars light up.
2. Press the top button again for medium heat, with two bars lit.
3. Press the top button a third time for low heat, with one bar lit.
4. Press the top button a fourth time to turn the seat heat off. All the bars go dark.
5. The bottom button works the same way for cooling, stepping through high, medium, low and off.

And the color of the bars tells you whether the heat or the cooling is on. Heat bars glow yellow, and cooling bars glow green. Now one owner who is red-green colorblind says he can't tell those two colors apart. So if you're colorblind, the simplest way is to count the bars as you press. And to be sure a seat is off, keep pressing until the bars go dark.

Rear seat heaters

So heated rear seats are mostly on the Limited and some Prime packages. On a RAV4 with heated rear seats, each rear seat heater button is on the rear door, near the armrest. You press the rear seat heater button once for on and once more for off. And a light on the button shows when the rear seat heater is on.

Is the RAV4 Prime any different?

So no, not for the buttons. Toyota's 2024 RAV4 Prime Quick Reference Guide shows the de-icer and heated steering wheel buttons left of the steering wheel. It also shows the seat switches below the climate panel, and the rear seat buttons in the rear doors. That's the same layout as every other 2019 to 2025 RAV4.

The one Prime difference is remote climate on the key fob, which is the remote on your key. Basically, you press and briefly hold the fob's A/C button to start the climate, and press the A/C button twice to stop it. The Prime needs to be in Park and turned off, with the doors and hood closed. But keep in mind that Prime owners say the fob's remote climate doesn't turn on the seat heaters. And one 2025 Prime owner says the seat heaters don't come on with remote start even if they were left on.

What stays on after a restart, and what you have to press every drive (2019 to 2025)

So Toyota's manual doesn't really say which of these features come back on after a restart. Most of this table comes from owners, and this is basically how a 2019 to 2025 RAV4 handles a restart.

Now about the heated steering wheel turning itself off. One 2025 owner says his manual says the heated wheel shuts off after 30 minutes. But the 2019, 2022 and 2023 to 2025 U.S. RAV4 manuals don't say anything about a time limit. And two other owners say their heated wheels stay on until they switch them off. One of them left his heated wheel on for hours by mistake. So I wouldn't count on the heated steering wheel shutting itself off.

Now here's how remote start works on a gas or hybrid RAV4. Owners say the front seat heaters and heated wheel come on with remote start if you left them on when you parked. That's because the switches are still on. So if you want a warm seat and wheel after a remote start, just leave the seat heaters and heated wheel on when you park. But keep in mind that the de-icer won't come back on with remote start, so you'd press the de-icer button once you get in.

Where the heated wheel, de-icer and heated seat controls are on a 2026 RAV4

So on the 2026 RAV4, there's no physical button for the heated wheel, the seat heaters, the seat cooling or the de-icer. All four moved to the climate bar on the touchscreen. Basically, the climate bar is the row of climate icons that stays on the screen no matter which app you have open. And the temperature buttons, the front defroster and the rear window defogger are still physical buttons below the screen.

Now some 2026 RAV4s also have a feature Toyota calls "All Auto," which runs the heated wheel and seats for you. Owner videos show All Auto on the Limited. I explain All Auto in its own section below, but All Auto changes what you'll see when you press each icon.

How to use the heated steering wheel on a 2026 RAV4

1. Find the steering wheel icon in the climate bar on the touchscreen. On 2026 RAV4s with All Auto, the steering wheel icon is labeled AUTO.
2. Touch the steering wheel icon to step through the heat levels. On a 2026 RAV4 with All Auto, each touch goes AUTO, then Hi, then Lo, then Off. On a 2026 RAV4 without All Auto, each touch goes Hi, then Lo, then Off.
3. Check the bars. Two red bars mean Hi, and one red bar means Lo.

So the 2026 heated steering wheel has two heat levels, which is new. The 2019 to 2025 heated wheel only had one level. Something to note is that one 2026 XLE Premium video describes that trim's heated wheel as just on and off. But Toyota's 2026 manual shows Hi and Lo, so I'd go with the manual. And I haven't found any source yet that says whether the 2026 heated wheel heats the whole rim or just the sides.

How to use the heated and cooled seats on a 2026 RAV4

1. Touch the seat icon in the climate bar. On 2026 RAV4s with cooled seats, reviewers say touching the seat icon opens a small pop-up where you pick heat, cooling or auto.
2. Step through the seat heat levels. With All Auto and heated and cooled seats, each touch goes AUTO, then Hi with three bars, Mid with two, Lo with one, then Off. On a 2026 RAV4 without All Auto, each touch goes Hi with two bars, Lo with one bar, then Off.
3. Check the bar colors. Seat heat bars glow red. Seat cooling bars glow blue, and the cooling steps go AUTO, Hi, Mid, Lo, then Off.
4. For the rear seat heaters, select REAR on the front climate screen, then touch the rear seat icon. Or press the rear seat heater buttons on the rear doors. The front screen shows a rear seat in red when that rear seat heater is on.

How to turn on the wiper de-icer on a 2026 RAV4

So the de-icer on the 2026 is the one control that's a little tucked away.

1. Touch the up-arrow button in the climate bar. Toyota calls this the option screen button, and it opens more climate controls.
2. Touch the de-icer icon. The de-icer icon is the windshield with wavy heat lines along the bottom.
3. Or use the Options tab instead. Open the Options tab on the climate screen, and switch "De-icer" on.

The 2026 de-icer also turns itself off after a while, and Toyota doesn't give a time for the 2026 either. And the same burn warning applies, so don't touch the bottom of the windshield while the de-icer is on.

How All Auto works on a 2026 RAV4

So All Auto is basically a setting that lets the 2026 RAV4 run the seat heaters, seat cooling and heated wheel by itself. The car decides based on the temperature you set, and the temperature inside and outside the car.

1. Open the Options tab on the climate screen and turn on All Auto.
2. Put the climate system on AUTO. All Auto only runs the seats and wheel while the climate system is on AUTO.

And there are a couple of details worth knowing. The passenger seat only runs automatically if the car detects a passenger in that seat. And if you change one seat or the wheel by hand, the seats and wheel you didn't touch stay on automatic.

Now if All Auto runs a seat or the wheel a little too warm or too cool for you, you don't have to turn All Auto off. In the climate customize screen, you can set the wheel and each front seat anywhere from -2, which is cooler, to +2, which is warmer. Those settings follow your driver profile, which Toyota calls My Settings. And a dealer can also adjust those settings for you.

Voice control on a 2026 RAV4

So you can also say "Hey Toyota, turn on heated steering wheel" or "Hey Toyota, turn on heated seat." And reviewers show that the voice command only changes the side of the person who spoke. So if the passenger asks, the passenger seat heats, not yours.

What isn't confirmed yet on the 2026

• Whether the 2026 seat heaters and heated wheel stay on after a restart, or come on with remote start. I haven't found a manual line or an owner report that answers this yet.
• The 2026 RAV4 plug-in hybrid. I couldn't find a 2026 plug-in hybrid owner's manual. Owner videos and toyota.com suggest the same touchscreen layout as the 2026 hybrid, but that isn't confirmed from a manual.

Common problems owners run into, and what to do

"I can't find the heated steering wheel button"

So not finding the heated wheel button is probably the most common problem. On a 2019 to 2025 RAV4, the heated steering wheel button is hidden behind the steering wheel's left spoke. So you can't really see the button from the driver's seat. One owner didn't know he had a heated wheel for six months. He only found out when someone reaching for the liftgate button turned the heated wheel on by accident. So just lean over once and look at the low row of buttons left of the steering column. After that, you'll know where the heated wheel button is.

"Only part of my steering wheel gets warm"

So that's normal on a 2019 to 2025 RAV4. Only the sides of the wheel heat, and the top and bottom stay cold. And if you hold the wheel at 10 and 2 with big hands, your thumbs may sit just above the heated part. One owner keeps thin gloves in the car, because the heat still comes through thin gloves.

"My heated seats barely get warm"

So weak seat heat is the most repeated seat complaint, and it's mostly from owners with heated and ventilated seats. That's trims like the Limited, Adventure, XSE Premium and Prime XSE. Basically, those owners say ventilated seats heat noticeably weaker than heated-only seats. And dealers have usually told them the seats are working as designed. Owners with heated-only seats mostly say theirs get plenty hot, sometimes too hot on high.

Now there is one possible fix for some early Prime owners. One 2021 Prime XSE owner says a Toyota service bulletin, TSB BE-00637T-TME, made his front seats heat much better. A service bulletin is a repair note Toyota sends to dealers for a known issue. That bulletin covers 2021 RAV4 Prime models built before May 10, 2021. But keep in mind that I haven't verified this bulletin on a Toyota site, and the number looks like a Toyota Europe one. So a U.S. dealer may not find it under that number, but it's worth asking about.

"The de-icer doesn't clear my windshield"

So the de-icer was never meant to clear the whole windshield. The de-icer only heats the strip where the wipers park, to free the wiper blades. For the rest of the glass, you'd use the front defroster. And owners are split on how well the de-icer works, with about as many saying it helps as saying it doesn't do much. The de-icer is slow, so it helps most to turn the de-icer on before you start scraping.

"The de-icer stopped working after a new windshield"

So the de-icer wires are built into the windshield glass, and they plug into the car. One owner says his glass shop forgot to plug the de-icer back in after a windshield replacement. Another owner says a crack along the bottom of the windshield seemed to cut the de-icer's heating wires. So if you get a new windshield, tell the glass shop your RAV4 has the de-icer, and check the de-icer works before you drive away.

"My mirrors heat up, but the windshield doesn't"

So that usually means the rear window defogger is on, not the de-icer. The mirror heaters come on with the rear window defogger button. So check which button has its light on, the de-icer button or the rear window defogger button.

Tips and warnings

• On an icy morning, turn on the de-icer and the rear window defogger first, then brush and scrape. By the time you're done, the wipers are usually free.
• Don't pull frozen wipers off the glass. You can tear the rubber on the wiper blades. Let the de-icer free the wiper blades instead.
• Don't spray washer fluid on a cold windshield until the glass warms up. Toyota warns that washer fluid can freeze on the glass and block your view.
• Keep your hands off the bottom of the windshield while the de-icer is on, because the glass there can burn you.
• On a RAV4 Prime, using the heated wheel and seats instead of the cabin heater can save electric range. One Prime owner says using the heated wheel and seats that way gets him 3 to 4 more electric miles.
• On a 2026 with All Auto, you can turn down a seat or the heated wheel that runs too warm. Set that seat or the wheel to -1 or -2 in the climate customize screen. That's easier than turning All Auto off.

And one thing other sites commonly get wrong is where the de-icer button is. Some say the de-icer button is on or near the climate control panel. That's not right for a 2019 to 2025 RAV4, where the de-icer button is in the low row left of the steering column. That claim is only close for the 2026, where the de-icer is in the touchscreen climate options.

Videos that show the controls