Anyone experience leg pain while driving a 2011 Prius? Last weekend, did a round trip from Los Angeles to Sedona,Az and I had serious leg pain. I stopped for a rest every hour to try to get more blood circulation in my legs. I also drank Tylenol to try to alleviate the pain with no luck. I had luck w/ a massage in Sedona, and that took my pain away. Today I drove for about 2 hours and let me tell you, my legs are hurting. Any suggestions? Do I need to buy an after market seat? Oh wow, I really love my Prius. But my legs hurt. I'll go see the doctor on Monday.
There's nothing wrong with the seat except the fabric seat doesn't have much lumbar support built in (there's a ton fixed in my Accord seat, it could be less). Also, maybe seat is not adjusted best for you. But, I can tell you that the seat itself is quite a good seat. Don't chase after replacement seats of which there pretty much aren't any (IOW, people don't replace seat in cars except very rarely). Plus yours has an airbag built into side of the seat. Get your lumbar support right first.
Make sure your bottom of spine is all the way against back of seat IOW, no slouching). You can get enough thigh support in that seat. I always found it really good. You should have about 130 or so degree bend in right knee when fully depressing the brake. Don't want too straight knee when braking. Not too bent either. have you tried all 6-way adjustments? Hands should be little lower than shoulders when holding wheel at 9 and 3 o'clock.
I suggest that you consider spending more time walking and moving your legs. Maybe take more breaks and exercise your legs more often. Be careful with the Tylenol. Acetominophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, is hepatotoxic and the therapeutic index (ratio between the toxic and therapeutic dose) is critical. It is easy for adults to accidentally take toxic levels of pediatric (liquid) Tylenol.
I actually noticed some today. The short pedal is weird, I wonder if that is a factor. I guess it helps the acceleration problem, but it's different.
Did you say 6 way adjustment? Wow. Looks like I'll need to read the owners manual to try help alleviate the pain I'm experiencing. Thanks for the information, I'll check my body / leg positioning as soon as it stops raining. It's delibitating pain. The salesperson at the Toyota Dealership did not go over the features of this vehicle during delivery. For instance, I had to call Sirius XM to refresh the signal to my XM traffic service. What does the cabin filter switch do? Is engine braking harmful to the engine? Does the vehicle come with Synthetic oil. Can I stream my music on my droid phone using blue tooth. Can the brake pedal height be adjusted? Can you explain the smart stop technology in detail?
Thanks for the information regarding acetaminophen. In fact on the return trip to Los Angeles, I started experiencing pain at the 2 hour mark. Normally, this would take around 7 hours to complete. Because I took extra breaks, it took me 9 hours to go home. And that's without traffic.
You look a little young to be having siatic nerve problems---but that's what it sounds like from here. The seats in my (II) G3 are pathetic! No lumbar support whatsoever. Since there's no way my beloved company is going to put me in an up-optioned Prius (I'm still shocked that they put me in a II with BWP paint!!) I opted to buy a $5 lumbar support gizmo. No more leg pain for me! Good Luck! EDIT: What does the cabin filter switch do? Routes incomming air through the cabin air filter. Is engine braking harmful to the engine? No. But if you use it for prolonged periods, I'm told that it can give some driveline (CVT)components grief. I never use it personally. Does the vehicle come with Synthetic oil. Yes. IIRC it's 0w20. You have 2 years of free maintenance. Don't worry about it yet---except to make sure that the wrench swingers don't over fill your oil when they change it. Can I stream my music on my droid phone using blue tooth. I do not know---you'll have to ask a 12-year-old kid the next time you see one. Can the brake pedal height be adjusted? I don't think so. Can you explain the smart stop technology in detail? Never heard of it...unless you're talking about that goofy "Hill hold" or Hill assist. You can engage a hill hold feature by depressing the brake until you hear a beep. Hill Assist will remain engaged as long as you keep some pressure on the brake pedal. It will disengage about 2 seconds after ALL pressure is released from the brake pedal, or as soon as you touch the accelerator. Good Luck!!
that includes sliding back/forth - 2 moving seatback forward/back - 2 height adjust up / down - 2 making 6 .. it's marketing stuff. B is not harmful to the engine, but you would only use it on a steep downgrade where the car accelerating a lot and you want engine braking to help out with or replace regular braking. 3rd gen Prius ships with synthetic. I'm not sure if it is a synthetic blend or a 'full synthetic'. Honda uses a synth blend in Accord. I think it is 0W-20 weight. Brake pedal height cannot be adjusted, sorry. Smart stop technology? You mean hybrid synergy drive? That's just the computer using the electric / gas as needed to conserve energy. Don't need gas engine running when stopped, that's for sure.
Note that you might find the driver's door armrest a little low for your elbow if you use it. The armrest is about 3/4" lower than the center console, unfortunately. Some have put an armrest pad made by a pro in the car. When renting and checking out the 3rd gen, I had used a 1" thick piece of foam similar to neoprene which is very dense. Had it cut for like a $1.50 at a foam factory. They called material 'Crosslink'. I don't know if you have any foam factories in your area. Course we do here, this is the SF Bay Area.
Another tip: If you carry your wallet in your back pocket, take it out when you drive. Otherwise, to make sure you have good posture, set the seat back more upright so you're not leaning back, use both hands on the steering wheel, and don't slouch or lean to the right or left. You should set your seat far enough and high enough that your thighs are supported without having to stretch your arms or lean forward to reach the steering wheel.
On my recent trip to Sedona, AZ I overly used the engine brake feature! On the highway, but definitely on the mountain driving part. It just made it much more enjoyable. Anyway, it was a rental from Hertz. I was reading the manual in an attempt to solve my painful legs syndrome, and it stated a new feature of most 2011 or 2010 Toyota Vehicles is when throttle is open and brakes are applied, the computer automatically shuts off the throttle and you can then safely shut off the engine by pressing the switch for at least 5 seconds is it?
I just came back from a 3 hour drive and the pain isn't there. (Wallet removed) Your right, it might be from the wallet. I noticed the wallet sits more under my thigh than my buttocks. Perhaps it restricted blood circulation causing such pain. I came from a vehicle that averages 17mpgs, it's possible due to the larger stack of bills inside due to gasoline savings may have been the cause of my leg pain. (joke) The saga continues. I might be pushing my luck here, do you guys have any suggestions for aching knees? (disclaimer, not related to my awesome prius)
Maybe it was psychological! You were just looking forward to that massage. But seriously, we've had our Prius for almost 2 weeks and I've only put 50 miles behind the wheel. Wife's driving it and has had no complaints. However the longest she's been behind the wheel is 100 miles. Next month though I'll be doing some 400 miles trips so we'll see.
The Prius doesn't have tilt adjustability for the seat bottom like a lot of cars have. I wanted the front of the seat higher to give me more support under my legs. So I removed the two bolts that hold down the front of the seat and added three 3/8" washers under the bracket on each side and bolted it back together. The stock bolts still had plenty of thread to hold everything together. For me it felt more comfortable and gave me more support. You can get the washers at any hardware store.
