Seat Height -- Obvious flaw in otherwise great car

I wonder if an auto reupholstery shop could do. Maybe they could modify the foam.

For Volvo's, they sell foam for the driver seat that lowers it about two inches. That seems like an ingenous solution.

 

FWIW, I sent them an email the other day with my complaints about the seat.

 

I had the seats moved back three inches so I have lots of leg room up front.




How did you move the seats back three inches? I have an idea how to do this, please give me your solution.

Thanks,

Wastex

 

dead link

 

I'm already a bit further away from the steering wheel than I'd like (I can't quite rest my wrist on the top of the wheel without stretching or cramping my legs). Though I would prefer a lower seating position, I worry that without a telescoping steering wheel I'll have to stretch a bit more to reach the steering wheel.

Driving "gangsta style with my lean on" to reach the steering wheel isn't exactly the best position to sit in to easily maintain full control of the car.

Just have a look at how close your typical race driver sits to the steering wheel.

 

NYPrius,

Thank you very much for the detailed explanation. My plan differs somewhat from theirs. Should achieve the same result. I am worried about being set back to far from the steering wheel. I like the seat in a reclined position. I plan to build a test piece from plywood to position the seat back 3" and try it. Hope it works.

Thanks again

westex39

 

Unfortunately, I think there are several reasons (both technical and financial) why they probably won't do this.

To add height adjustment to the current (non adjustable) Prius seat, they would essentially have to replace the entire upper seat frame. That's because the seat support bracket is welded to the seat frame. I had to cut this bracket to lower the rear of my seat. For Toyota, it would be easier (and safer) to replace the entire seat.

I think the best you could hope for is that they would offer to sell the adjustable seat found in the European and Japanese market. But if you look at the prices that Toyota charges for new replacement seats, you could buy a Recaro for less money.

BTW, I discovered that Recaro now sells seats with side airbags, so that could possibly be a solution, although an expensive one.

It would be possible for an aftermarket company to offer a "kit" to modify the Prius seat, but I would not hold my breath for this - the liability involved is tremendous - and the volumes would be low, so it isn't very likely that someone would go to the trouble to design and market a kit to modify the Toyota seat.

 

Awesome! I thought it was just me. I love the car but I'm always kinda hunched over the wheel. Was not sure how to fix it. Could you please elaborate on your fix. 14 washers is about 3/4 of an inch? Are you propping up just the front of the seat? Thanks alot!

 

No you don't lose the side airbag, Recaro are made (only for left hand drive vehicles) with a side airbag.
Work out the cost of a Recaro over the life of the seat taking into account the added resale value of a car with a like new, no wear drivers seat, reduces fatgue, and portability to the next car and the cost per mile is very low.

Of course we could just say Toyota should have fitted the Prius with seats as good as Recaro at no additional cost and cry a lot but what will that achieve?

I put my spine above the interior asthetics of my car, where do you rate your spine?

I should add, I am happy with the standard height adjustable seat in my Prius

 

I posted photos in another thread:

http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-modifications/21751-seat-height-adjustment-2.html#post549147

I lowered the seat approx. .890 inch (new hole was drilled .890 below original rivet hole). It did tilt the seat bottom but I wanted to tilt it anyway because the original angle felt too flat. It is true that the seat back now angles back also, but this can be remedied with the recline adjustment - even with the additional tilt, I can tilt the seat back upright - like you, I prefer to sit upright, now I can do that without my hair touching the headliner.

Yes, I believe that you could lower the front and rear, but may require fabricating a new bracket for the front. Also, it would be possible to lower the rear more than I did, but that distance was convenient because the flat area on the bracket matched the original rivet hole location. Lowering it further would require fabricating a bracket and rerouting the wires for the seat belt warning buzzer.

I am planning to look at making the seat adjustable - this would require new brackets for the front and rear, plus a mechanism to raise and lower the seat. I have an idea how to do this, but have not yet drawn the geometry to see how the brackets will articulate. I have a Corolla seat to use as a pattern - that will help me to determine pivot points and lengths of the brackets. The articulation of the Corolla seat is interesting - at first it lowers both the front and rear of the seat but the further you lower it, it lowers the front less than the rear, effectively tilting the seat bottom as it lowers. Also, the whole seat moves rearward as it lowers which increases legroom as well.

However, I am pretty happy with my seat now compared to before, so I am less motivated at this point to change it.

 

I would imagine that if you were in a serious accident with one of these modified seats, and your seat failed for one reason or another, and if the insurance company found out you had modified the seat in any way, you may risk not getting coverage for your injuries. So modifying the seat may be very risky.

To all the people who are over 6 feet tall and feel the Prius is too small for them, I would say look at the Camry Hybrid, or the Highlander Hybrid. The Prius was designed as a Japanese domestic market car, and a world car too, not just a car for big Americans. Personally as someone who is 5'6" tall, the Prius is the perfect size for me. And I am glad they designed it this size, as I would never be interested in driving a Highlander Hybrid or even a Camry Hybrid as I do not want a big car.

But people who are big, and I believe people over 6 feet tall are big people, you need to buy a bigger car if you're not satisfied with the one you have.

 

i don't really have a problem with the prius seat, but after driving our 1990 lexus i have to say that it's vastly more comfortable.

going back to the prius feels a little weird.

 

You're just mean.