Anyone else get knee pain when driving?

6'2" and 240......I'm imagining a packed can of sardines with no room to move. They make a seat extender for older generation Prius cars, maybe you can find something similar and move the seat back a little more?

Seat Extension Brackets for 2010-2015 Toyota Prius - PriusChat Shop

 

I have a 2009 Gen II, I'm 5' 5½" and weigh 157lbs, I've driven my Prius about 21k miles since I bought it in Jan 2014 and the only thing I've added for comfort is a beaded seat cover (look on amazon (around $20)) (I used one on my last car (Toyota Corolla) for nearly 300k miles and found it to be very comfortable). I've never noticed a pain in either of my legs. I live in southern New Hamster, although I often drive in Massachusetts, which of course is a right pain in the arse! - hope this helps - Wil

PS: grumpycabbie might drop in with a suggestion about making your Prius more comfy to drive!

 

Try raising the seat.

IIRC it's like the gen 3 and when lowered, it tilts back with the front hardly dropping at all. This increases head room but can result in the front of the seat putting too much pressure on the back of your legs.

 

Seconded. I initially felt some discomfort behind my knee after 30 minutes or so of driving and realized the seat was nearly at it's lowest setting. Adjusting it up a bit and then raising the front (I have the electric adjuster in mine) seems to put a lot more support behind the knee. Hope that helps!

 

Agreed, raspy. I'm a couple inches taller than you, (and 20 lbs heavier ) and I was very surprised how well I fit in the Prius. The leg room is very good. That, and the great gas mileage sold me on the car. I'm fine once I'm seated... but getting in & out is an adventure! I don't have knee pain, just the usual back pain. Jacking the seat up higher helped somewhat. It changes the angle somehow.

 

doesn't the steering wheel telescope outward?

 

I get severe ear ache - that may be due to GPS (see details in my signature!)

 

Yes, it has a pretty good extension... just not quite long enough for us big moose guys. But overall, I really like that car. I'm very glad I bought it.

Getting 60 MPG helps relieve any minor discomfort I may have!

 

well you're gonna have to get longer arms

 

Rasby,

I always wear my open patella knee braces when driving over an hour. They seem to prevent knee stress (combination of keeping the knee warm and a bit of support).

JeffD

 

cycledrum always complained about the steering wheel extension not coming out far enough for longer legs and shorter arms. i think he test drove the ten 4 as well.

 

6'1" and heavier than I care to admit. No leg pain, but I find my hands going numb rather frequently. I'm not sure how I'm holding the wheel, but something about it and me has changed. It's getting less frequent, so maybe I'm learning.

 

I am guessing that you jump into the car, and are so excited to be with your best friend again, that you give the steering wheel a big man hug, and don't let go.
Try getting in the car, lie back and take in the view, making sure that your car is happy and relaxed, and ready for its next trip, before pressing the Start button. Now, carefully, lightly touch steering wheel with hands in the "10 to 2" position and you are ready to go. Voila, no more numbness.

 

I must use the cruise on long trips or my right leg kills me. Use to flying with the seat titled forward to take the pressure off the bottom of the leg and reach the instrument panel.. Coup Deville had the best seats.

Those Were the Days
Mary Hopkin
Once upon a time there was a tavern
Where we used to raise a glass or two
Remember how we laughed away the hours
And dreamed of all the great things we would do
Those were the days my friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day
We'd live the life we choose
We'd fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.

 

I'm having a similar problem. I'm also tall, have rather thick and strong thighs and also had runner's knee once (with a year of physical therapy till I removed a chair at work that's been causing it) and now it's back because of my favorite car. Sadly it took me quite a while, about 9 months, to figure out my new Prius was the culprit because it's a stress injury that creeped up very slowly after months of taking the same one hour drive to work and it coincided with two other changes in my life, getting a dog and getting back to playing drums. As my knee pain gradually got close to unbearable with heavy limping, I ceased my frequent 5k runs, totally stopped playing drums and doing my two mile morning and evening dog walks (taking the dog to a dog park instead) and got down from 250 to 230 lbs to no improvement, but I've finally noticed that the pain and limping gets better on weekends and days off but worsens on workdays, which finally points to the Prius. Moreover, when I drive my wife's Honda Odyssey my knee gets much better, so I either have to sell the Prius or somehow alter the seat or the gas pedal. Now I almost always drive the car in "power" mode because it requires less foot/knee movement. I now regret not getting a higher model but buying Prius Two on which I insisted because I'm 6'3" so I purposely wanted simple cloth seats to have more headroom, what now doesn't give me any advanced angles/tilting adjustments. Meanwhile I bought one of those cushions for sciatic pain and back injuries on Amazon and that seems to help just a tad, but it's not good enough.

To lower the stress and pain during long Chicago highway jams when my MPGs go up to the 70s I've learned to use my left leg for braking or sometimes even for gas. (DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME as it can easily get you into an accident - I'm ambidextrous, drove stick shift for decades and very good with using both legs/arms). My wife drove my "baby" just once recently and she's saying that it's also hurting her knee although she's just under 5'2" and she doesn't want to drive it ever again, refusing to even temporarily swap cars. I'm crushed because I otherwise really love the car and I believe it's a marvel of engineering, but I'm going to have to get rid of it to stop inflicting pain and causing patellofemoral pain syndrome with tendon inflammation that can get so bad that it would require surgery that doesn't always succeed. I've researched other cars and I looked up their legroom, so here are the current hybrids I'm considering, Prius having 43.2 inches of legroom:
Kia Niro 41.7" - very interesting, but totally out due to low legroom
Kia Optima 45.5"
Hyundai sonata 45.5"
Nissan Altima 45"
I really don't think lack of legroom is causing this injury as I've driven cars with less legroom with no problems, but more legroom never hurts. I believe it must be the positioning of the gas and brake pedals that makes you hold your leg up and your knee tendons constantly tense, which is okay for short city drives, but devastating when you spend few hours in the car every day like me.

I'm also considering swapping my Prius Two with a higher model that would allow for better seat adjustments, but with same gas and brake pedals I could get stuck with same problem, different car. Wish there was a way to test drive for a month...

 

Update on my (last) post above:
I've since determined that the knee pain and stress injury is caused by the seat blocking the blood flow on long rides. I'm heavy and I sink deep in the seat, what makes its front edge press on my thigh from below and cause the problem. I've since bought another wedged pillow and put it under the other one and my knee has recovered. What's also helping is that the company I work for has moved me two days a week to a closer place, so those two days I only drive about 45 minutes a day instead of 2 hours a day. Since I've bought the other pillow two months ago, I've recovered so much that I'm able to run 5k again.
Now I'm going to stay loyal and try Prius Prime. I may be stupid because the seat design on 2016 is so horrible that it hurts knees but I just can't give this puppy up.