Heated Toilet Seat

Heated toilet seats and other technologies coming soon to a toilet near you.

The technology of the flush toilet has advanced a great deal since it was first invented around 1600, but Americans who've grown accustomed to standard ceramic toilets are in store for a new wave of toilet technologies. Heated toilet seats are only the beginning of the toilet technologies on the horizon.

Coming to America

Japan has some of the most technologically advanced toilets in the world, and Japanese companies have been the leaders in bringing those technologies to America. Toto, the largest of these companies, controls about 50% of the Japanese toilet market share.

Toto is the maker of the WashletZoe, listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's most sophisticated toilet. Washlets are bidet-style toilets that can now be found in over half the homes in Japan.

In January, 2006, Toto announced that they would be opening a factory in Mexico to manufacture their Washlet heated toilet seat for the U.S. market. Toto expects the factory to be producing 400,000 Washlet heated toilet seats a year by 2008.

Though the Washlet heated toilet seat has already begun to catch on in the U.S., many Americans still have never heard of it. A Washlet isn't merely a heated toilet seat. It also features push button technology that causes a small nozzle to extend from beneath the seat and operate as a warm-water spraying bidet.

The Washlet heated toilet seat also features a blow drier function for use after the bidet, and advanced models include automatic seats and air purifiers and deodorizers.

At the forefront of Japanese toilet technology right now are sensors that can measure the blood sugar content of urine, as well as pulse, blood pressure, and body fat, though these features are not yet widespread.

Not all companies selling hi-tech heated toilet seats are Japanese. Brondell is a San Francisco-based company founded in 2003 that sells two different models of its Swash heated toilet seat, the Swash 400 and Swash 600. Both feature a heated toilet seat with self-cleaning bidet nozzle, but the Swash 600 also offers an air dryer and remote control.

Self-cleaning toilets

Along with the heated toilet seat, the self-cleaning toilet is a technology that American should expect to see more of in the coming years. Toto's SaniGloss toilet is one such toilet. It uses nanotechnology to provide a smooth and non-porous ceramic glaze that greatly reduces the ability of dirt and bacteria to build up on the toilet surface.

Toto's SaniGloss technology also provides an ion barrier that repels waste and bacteria, thus making it possible for the water that flushes the toilet to wash away nearly all particles and bacteria.

A heated toilet seat then is just the beginning of new toilet technologies to come. There may even be a day when your toilet conducts a routine medical checkup, wirelessly emails the results to your doctor, and automatically responds to voice commands.

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