Has anyone improved their Prius Seat?

Well, I bought the Prius - bad back and all.

I found a lumbar support cushion at The Driver's Seat. Works okay. I can tolerate it for a near-zero emissions car.

Rob

Well, did it work out? Are you pleased with the aftermarket seat? can you share the name of the aftermarket company?

anyone have anymore suggestions? i just purchased a 2008 and am sooooo uncomfortable.
i had a similar problem with a volvo v50 and actually had to return the car. ( lost a lot of money on that deal)

give this sight a try. they have top quality products and this cushion looks thin, yet knowing their quality, it will be very good. they also have several good wedges for lumbar.
http://www.relaxtheback.com/travel-subcategory-6389780

I had a test-drive with the Prius and could not believe how bad the seat felt. It must have been designed by some sofa scrambling teenagers. They make absolutely no sense to my or my spouses back. Also the leg support is missing, witch results in tired knees after a while. Then the hand brake ( foot hand brake ) comes in the way when one wants to stretch out the left leg. Nice for short legs
Hey Toyota ! check out a BMW z1 or so to learn something about car interior design that is corresponding to human body ergonomics. That would get me back on the Prius road. Until then : Ouch !

I think the Prius hybrid car's are very much popular in the develop countries now in developing countries like india many companies are coming with hybrid car's.

I have a 2010 prius and as a result of the uncomfortable seats, I now have bursitis of the hips. I was sitting all day in folding chairs for the past week, and my hips felt fine. My first day back in my prius and I'm in pain again. This is horrible.

Very glad I found this thread! I just bought a 2008 Prius and LOVE my car. But it is indeed killing my back. And never ever had a back prob before. I do triathlons and marathons and I cannot even walk at the moment. Crazy. I will see a chiropractor next week and hope to find a seat solution. I'd ever get rid of my Prius because of my back. I will find a better seat solution though. Strange that it is such an uncomfy seat. I'm tall though too. Wonder if that has anything to do with it? Interesting stuff!

I test drove a Prius yesterday for about 15 minutes and my back still hurts today. They ofered me a great deal and I love the tought of a 50mpg car, but I don't think I can go through with the deal for fear of becoming a cripple. Toyotas used to have good ergonomic design so not sure what happened...

Bought a pruis two weeks ago. My back is killing me. We tavel 60 miles round trip a day and I can't stand it. The cars we test drove didn't seem to hurt like this one. Can we send the car back without loosing tons of money.

I've had my 2005 Prius for 4 years and I can no longer take the back pain. I have tried a seat wedge (which did help...a little) and also a lumbar support (didn't really help). I can't change the seat itself because the seat contains side airbags. I'm not sure what else I can do....except give up!

I bought a 2010 Prius last year and within three months was unable to drive it for more than 10 minutes. I tried every type of back/seat support but nothing worked. Previously I drove a Hyundai Elantra, commuting about 2 hours a day with no problems. I had an MRI confirming 2 herniated discs that three doctors attribute to the poor design of the seat. I even had an ergonomic specialist look at it and he was shocked. The main problems from their points of view are the angle of the seat (your knees are much higher than your hips), the complete lack of lumbar support and the head rest that pushes your head foward completely out of alignment. The seat angle can be adjusted slightly but when all the way up my head either touches the ceiling (I am 5' 8") or my vision is blocked. I tried a co-workers earlier model and the seat seems much better. At this point I am either going to get rid of it completely or try to trade it in for an older model. Has anyone had any luck adjusting the seat on their own???

We have a 2007 and the seats are a nightmare, so, advice to the 2010 purchaser, dont think that trading in your Prius for an earlier model is going to be the solution. I have tried everything! Not sure what else to do but get rid of the car

I've owned all three generations of the Prius and all of the seats were horrible. I actually think the 2010 is the worst. Feels like a leather covered church pew. Absolutely horrid ergonomics. I'm actually shopping to get rid of it now. At least the first one was zippy and fun. The second wasn't too bad and they fixed a lot of missing creature comforts. But this third gen with it's stupid console bridge to block your knee makes the seat harder to deal with. This is NOT a long distance car!!

We have a 2009 Prius and have noticed the front seat does not align with the center of the steering wheel. Took it to our dealer who said it was OK. Having to sit askew in the seat makes my back hurt. Also drove a new 2011, same problem. Anyone noticed this?

did anybody of you remove the seat cover and started working on the seat by stuffing or cutting the padding material or working on the springs? it cannot be that complicated...

I want to get rid of this 2008 Prius. It is just so uncomfortable. I paid 26K for a car I have to drive with a wedge cushion under my tush. My back is killing me!!! No other car gets such great MPG. Anyone found a suitable replacement car? Thanks

Bursitis is inflammation of the bursa between connective tissue and around joints. I can understand the seat aggravating the condition, but I don't see how it could cause it.

After putting a 3 inch foam cushion on the seat bottom and filled in the concave seatback with New Foam fiberfill covered by a terrycloth towel my seat is comfortable in my 2010 Pruis. I'd like something nicer looking though. Has anyone found a ready made support cushion for seat bottom and back? The new driver seat adjustable lever only makes things worse. I keep the seat in the neutral position.

I recommend trying a lumbar support cushion that has an adjustable strap built into it. You can secure it around the seat so that it doesn't move as much while you are driving.

I bought a 2010 Prius two months ago and my back is killing me !!!!! I am looking for aftermarket seat covering options !! The car is great and I love the mileage !!! My only other comments are the back up chime should be on the outside and the shifting lever has backward and forward 180 degrees out of place.

I just bought a 2011 this week, and my back hurt all the next day after I drove it for two hours. I'm looking for a way to fix that. But I am glad to know others have this problem too. Toyota should do something about it. It's so unnecessary. How hard can it be to make a decent seat for this car?

I also have a 2010 Prius when I started my job in late 2010. I had back surgery in 2008 and was doing great with no pain or problems what so ever. After using the car for a month, by back starting hurting again. It continued to worsen to the point of having to have major problems with my back. I then bought a chair support from Relax the Back and the sales person asked if I had a Prius, I told him yes, and he said that he had 5 people in the last month come in complaining of back problems that had a Prius. Still with the added support, I still have pain when driving. I hope to get a different car from my company soon.

I have to complain because I am outraged. I have one of the worst commutes in the counrty from Baltimore to DC everyday. I purchased a 2011 prius in June and I have put 12k miles on the car. The mpg is fantastic, but the back pain is so painful that I am considering getting rid of the car. I have tried everything. I am an average size man and I can`t fit comfortably in the driver seat. The steering wheel doesn`t telescope and there is no room for my legs so I have the seat all the way back, but then I have diffuculty reaching the steering wheel. I was sitting on a theraputic seat cushion to dampen the vibration to my hurting tail bone and a lumbar support behind my back. After 20 minutes these cusions do nothing. I dread getting in the seat of the 2011 prius. There is aboslutly no back support in the car. The way the seat looks it would only fit a hunchback. Yesterday I purchased a brookstone seat massager and it feels nice but it puts me too far forward in the seat and my legs are even more uncomfortable. Anybody have any suggestions. I have tried everything!

To everyone who is having / has had horrible back pain caused by the Prius' driver seat: I have a partial solution that involves padding the driver seat with foam blocks and wedges.

I discovered that, despite the nicely curved contour of the driver seat, the actual foam inside the seat does NOT follow the contour of the fabric. Instead, the fabric is stretched so tightly that it just looks like foam is there underneath it, as one would expect. Instead, it is just air, and the foam itself is much further below (I use "much" as a relative term). Clearly, they want us to provide our own foam to complete our seats, which they can do because they've already deceived us into buying the car.

I have been doing the following for the past several weeks, and it has made a noticeable improvement in how my back feels after driving the Prius (this is after several years of horrible back pain from the anti-ergonomically designed Prius driver seat):

One of the most important pieces of foam is a foam pad, to be placed on the seat. I found the foam used in the Prius seats to be very cheap (examining the actual foam itself, the air pockets are not uniform) and uncomfortably hard; but put a nice, high-quality foam pad on the seat and you will feel much better. Note that if you are tall, you'll probably want to get a thinner foam pad; otherwise, the foam pad can be as thick as you need to raise you up high enough.

The second most important piece of foam is a wedge to support your upper spine. Something just wide enough for your spine, and thicker at the top than at the bottom; this should push your upper body forward about an inch, so that the headrest is not causing your head to jut forward as much.

If you are not incredibly long-legged, then you'll find, like me, that the car seat is much too deep to be comfortable. Place enough short foam blocks at the base of the seat to push you forward; you'll probably want your knees to be past the edge of the seat so that you can bend them. The foam blocks should only be as wide as the inner part of the driver seat - if they're too wide, they'll start to curve. The foam blocks should be just tall enough to support the next item on the list:

Two foam wedges for lumbar support. You should place the first wedge so that its thick part is lower than its thin part. The second wedge goes in the same direction, but slightly lower, on top of the first wedge. The idea is to provide support to your lower back.

The foam I used for everything is a nice, soft but supportive, high-quality foam - all bought from a place called House of Foam.

Using this configuration helped my back greatly after only a few days. It's been several weeks now, and I can finally carry things on my back again.

The only thing I can't fix with this configuration is the headrest pushing the head too far forward - the metal bars in the headrest actually are part of a "U" that is also bent in the wrong direction (namely, forward). The foam is needed so you don't crack your skull against the metal U-bar when you put your head back or in an accident. If anyone has a solution to this problem, or any improvements that they've tried and are satisfied with, please post them here - thanks!

God, do I love this car (2010 Prius). Great mileage. But God, do I hate the front seat - the shape is beyond awful and it is THE most uncomfortable car seat I have EVER used. Looking for padding this week to alter the shape of the base as well as the back. How did that seat ever pass any type of standardized tests for seat comfort....geez.

However, terrible seats or not...50 MPG is 50 MPG. I love it.

Just bought a new 2012 Toyota Yaris (redesigned). One cannot tell during a 15 minute test drive what 2 hours of driving will tell you. My back is killing me and I never had back problems prior to driving it. The seats seem to have the same design flaws as the Prius, namely poor ergonomic design (hunchback) with low-quality foam and cloth stretched so tight that it is tented. The forward facing headrest is also uncomfortable. These are by far the worst seats I have ever sat in for a car. I realize that I didn't buy a Lexus or Mercedes when I bought this car, but the seat design is absolutely shameful. Looking at replacing them with aftermarket seats . . . Buyer beware.