Is it the driver's seat or my butt?

I don't mind people complaining about the seats or asking for advice about what to do if they find the seats uncomfortable.

But what I don't understand it the seeming either/or inflexibility. In other words, IF you find the seats uncomfortable to YOU...OK...but that doesn't mean the seats are uncomfortable to everyone, or that Toyota has designed a "torture device". It just means the seats are uncomfortable to you.

Conversely, I realize that just because I find the seats comfortable, that doesn't mean they are comfortable to everyone.

So complain away if you wish, but just realize your personal relationship with the seat ergonomics of The Prius is a PERSONAL relationship.

 

I bought the Prius, among other things, because seats in an '03 Camry I inherited just were not supporting my leg and thigh, so even a simple 45-minute commute was annoying. I spent considerable time fiddling with the power seat at a dealer's to ensure I could get it into a position to be comfortable. (I opted for this car over a Fusion hybrid because of how the stowage space was laid out and the poor pass-through.) I do find the Prius seats a bit firm, particularly compared to the seats in the Fusion, which are more like the seats in my Jag. The Prius is a commuter car for me, not a road car, so I can tolerate a little whine about the seat.

 

I rented Prius for 2.5 years with over 20k miles behind the wheel before I ordered my car. When it came to delivery day I told my sales lady there was nothing she could tell me that I didn't already know about the car so thank you and off I went riding comfortably after adjusting my seat to fit my behinder

Mike

 

Exactly. One car won't fit everybody, which is why I took a long enough test ride to know if the seat was reasonably comfortable for me. Within 10 minutes I knew I wouldn't buy a Ford Focus. After 30 minutes I knew the Prius could climb hills well enough and that the seats were comfortable for my wife and myself. I also tried all the controls to see if they were logically arranged and easy to operate. This is what a test drive is for so there are no surprises on the way home.

 

i'll bet most people are reasonably happy driving their liftback..

I try to make a point not to sit too far back towards the seatback, but find the sweet spot when sitting down. .... it's a little tough to do with the tilt and flattish lumbar area, and sometimes I get a 'bad sit' and get more uncomfortable, but most times it's 'ok' as I often say, but that 'ok' has more to do with the overall car than just the seat.

 

But what I don't understand is the seeming either/or inflexibility. In other words, if you find the seat comfortable to YOU...OK...but that doesn't mean the seats are comfortable to everyone, or that Toyota has designed a comfortable seat. It just means the seats are comfortable for you.

To which I'd add why bother telling the many people who find the seats uncomfortable of your views to the contrary? So many complain so frequently that there is clearly a problem with the Prius seats that Toyota would be wise to fix the problem.

 

Personally I'd love to have Toyota copy Volvo seats.....

 

Alternatively, so many comment here that the seats are fine, and there are hundreds of thousands of owners who never complain at all, so why should Toyota do anything?

 

Peugeot 505 had/have the best seats ever!

 

Best solution might be to bring power driver's seat into lower trim options, like Three. Seat doesn't have to have leather or Softex to be power. Accord EX and Sport are both 10-way power with fabric.

Honda Civic has no power seat option. All new corolla just gained power seat in top trim.

Accord has had power seat in all but lowest trim LX (Sport, EX, EX-L, EXL V6, touring , all power seat).

Is power seat just a fun little button to play around with? No.

Power seat allows adjustment while driving, something that's quite dangerous with a manual seat. Plus, power seats allow changing the tilt angle of the seat bottom and has lumbar adjust....

Virtually no manual seat allows bottom tilt adjustment. Need more or less thigh support, boom, tap button, adjust it out.

As they improve designs, lighten components, hopefully power seats will become more common.

 

If this was important to me, I would buy a square of styrofoam and cut to comfort.

 

Seriously? Have you ever done that? Sit on styrofoam? Will crumble to pieces.

Let's talk about making Prius a more serious car. That's what it's going to take to begin compete with the big dogs in the top 10. Camry, Accord, Altima, Sonata, Fusion, Civic, Corolla, Elantra, Focus.

Prius now has to compete which improved Corolla, can get '14 LE Plus for $19, 510 MSRP with 32 MPG combined and this interior ...



Doubt typical buyer is all hot to get a floating buttress console.

I've tried a bunch of auto parts store seat cushions, foam, bamboo, looked at Sacro Ease and all that stuff .... didn't work for me at all. I've no need to sit higher on a cushion, need adjustability.

There is no replacement for better adjustability which comes from a Power seat. But, yeah, that assumes the seat contour is good also.

 

Also if the seat hurts your back then it could be your back that is bad. Get it worked on. I have 2 bulging disk L4, L5 and I have no problem with the seats.

 

What you call 'serious' I call more expensive for no improvement (to me). I can compare the seats in my Prius vagon to the power seat with the ballyhooed tilt I had in my Lexus CTh200. Both were fine, but I prefer sitting in the vagon because there is more headroom.

There are manufacturers that let a buyer add features a la carte but Toyota is not one of them, at least so far. The last thing I want is for a vocal minority to force a feature on to base cars that everyone has to pay for. To them (and to you) I say if power seats are so important to you, pay for them and leave me out of it. Or go to an upholsterer and have a cushion made to your personal delight.

 

And you couldn't still buy a Prius Two without power seat? Or they could push the current two to a One, Three to a Two and make a new Three power seat and fabric.

btw, I'd call a Camry LE, SE with $440 power seat package pretty darn close to 'a la carte' or get it without.

Build a Toyota | Build a Custom Toyota Vehicle Package

 

That is exactly what I hope Toyota avoids -- making the line more expensive from the bottom up.

 

RECARO - en - RECARO Group-en

 

Excellent link. I know if I was whining about the seats every opportunity, my wife would find a way to come up with cash LOL.

 

If thy seat offends thee, pluck it out.

 

Making a bottom seat cushion with an upholsterer I think would be a crap shoot at best. What are they going to do? Shave the foam? Ooops, customer doesn't like it, try again.

At least Honda understands importance of power seat in Accord. Manual seat in LX would not work for me: bottom too flat, same with Camry w/o power seat. Power seat tilt feature corrects that.

Prius Four, the least expensive is over $29k sticker, and from what I can tell, they sell in the vast minority.

btw, as you know the power tilt feature also includes lumbar adjust which would do quite a bit to lessen complaints.