1995-04 Taco Seat Swap ability?

[Martinjmpr]

Does anyone know how easy/difficult it is to swap seats from 1995-2004 Tacomas? Mine has the stupid "split bench" that makes it impossible to fit seat covers, plus my center "console" is just in the armrest. I know there were true buckets available, just wondering if the split-bench to bucket is a bolt in/bolt out swap. I think I'd only need to do the driver's seat since the passenger seat is really just a bucket seat anyway. Does anyone know if the earlier series (1995-00) Tacoma seats will bolt in with little or no modification? I assume they'd be the ones most commonly found in used auto parts places. Obviously I'd want to try and grab the console as well - also a bolt in?

 

[DaveInDenver]

Don't know for sure about the Taco, but the swap from a split bench to a bucket in the third gen pickup ('89-'95) is almost 100% bolt-in. You sometimes have to drill the inner front bolt hole on the driver's side. I used aftermarket seats and the brackets I got required me to hold a nut behind that hole, but I didn't have to drill anything. The other 7 were all matching. My guess is a set of Tacoma buckets would fit in your truck with next to no effort. You only really run into trouble if you have a solid bench, then sometimes a couple of holes are not there. I think in later trucks that the captured nuts were in place under the floor for buckets and bench seats and you can expose the ones you need by pulling a piece of tape off. This was not the case in mine, but I have a Japanese made 1991 and that might only be a US assembled thing, so '92 and newer.

 

[Martinjmpr]

Thanks for the info, Dave. Do you know if T100 or 1st gen Tundra seats would fit? I assume Tundra seats would not but wasn't the T100 only a little bigger than the Tacoma?

 

[MountainBiker]

It is plug-n-play if you get buckets from the same generation 2001-2004. I did just that, but I switched from the split bench to the Limited Bucket seats, which were only in the S-Runner and and option on 4x4/pre-runner.

If you switch to standard buckets (not the limited), then your passenger seat is the same, so you only need the driver side bucket and the center console. Center console is also plug-n-play if you stick to 2001-2004, but to make a perfect fit, you'll need the gear shift surround too.

T100, tundra and 4runner seats are NOT plug-n-play, some significant fab will be needed, although a lot easier than making a bumper!

Lots more info on seat swaps over at www.customtacos.com

 

[Martinjmpr]

Thanks for the info. There's a Toyota yard (Yota Yard, I think it's called) right across from the restaurant where my MC club meets (the Walnut Room on Walnut Street) so maybe next time I'm there I'll cruise over and see what they have.

 

[DaveInDenver]

T100, tundra and 4runner seats are NOT plug-n-play, some significant fab will be needed, although a lot easier than making a bumper!

Lots more info on seat swaps over at www.customtacos.com

I'd bet that seats from a 2nd gen 4Runner might be a close fit, they are completely interchangeable between 1989-1995 pickups and 1990-1996 4Runners and it would not surprise me to find that seats from a 90-96 4Runner would be very similar to those in the Taco. The Tundra, T100, etc. seats would not be direct fits AFAIK.

 

[BogusBlake]

Ill tell you what I hope is a bolt-in; '05+ Taco buckets into my '04. Those new seats are WAY more comfortable than mine!

Anyone done that?

 

[edgear]

Ill tell you what I hope is a bolt-in; '05+ Taco buckets into my '04. Those new seats are WAY more comfortable than mine!

Anyone done that?

That would definitely be a mod worth doing. The lumbar support is far superior. But since the '05+ are about 4" wider, those seats might be a little too big to fit into an '04

 

[Martinjmpr]

Okay, here's another seat-swap question: Looked at my drivers seat last night, noticed that the track is held in by four bolts. Easy enough, except that on the rear of the tracks, the bolt is covered by a plastic plate. Does this just pop off? I was going to try and pry it up with a screwdriver last night but I didn't want to risk breaking it.

Second question: Looking under the drivers seat, I noticed that there is an electrical wire that runs to the base of the seat. Now, my Tacoma doesn't have a power seat, nor does it have a seat heater, so am I right in thinking that this is some kind of sensor for the air bag? If so, what do I have to do when replacing the seat? Will all air-bag equipped Tacomas have this sensor in the seat? And what would be the effect of removing the sensor entirely?

Or, if this is not an air bag sensor, what is it?

I noticed there is not one under the passenger seat. How I wish Toyota had put the "2/3" part of the seat on the passenger side instead of the driver's side!

UPDATE: Could this be a sensor for the seat belt warning? If that's all it is, can I just defeat this feature? I always wear my seat belt anyway, so it's kind of a non-issue to me, I just don't like that annoying red light flashing at me when I take it off to step out of the truck.

 

[DaveInDenver]

On my truck the plastic part was a trim piece, it should just pop off.

The wire under the seat is probably for the seat belt buzzer. I don't think your era Taco would have the smart air bags, so I doubt that it's a weight sensor or anything. I would verify that, but I don't think it's got anything to go with the air bags. On my truck there is no seat belt buzzer for the passenger, just the driver. Which, BTW, I defeated by just unplugging that connector...