heron

Hello,

Anyone else experiencing back pain from driving this car? The ride is bumpy, but my old Volvo was pretty bumpy too. I'm wondering if it's the seats. Anyone have the the seats modified?

Thanks.

vintage42

I am 6"-2" and 200 lbs, and the seat back bolsters sqeeze my sides. My rib cage seems to be too wide to fit between the bolsters, so I am wedged tight. That causes a little side pain after about ten minutes, especially after some cornering, which can be releived by squirming and shifting position. I expect to be pressed into a bolster when cornering, but I feel the bolsters pressing all the time. I had a disc operation many years ago, and know what back pain is, but I don't have any back pain in the xB.

SmokingTires

So I take my box on road trips every weekend, averaging from 1-12 hours. I can assure you after about 3 hours of sitting in the box (front seats) my back hurts, no squirming will help. If we go in our friends Civic ('02) we can go the same distance without feeling as much discomfort. I'd say the xB is just not designed for us, it was designed for the people who made it (which are a lot smaller on average)

vintage42

When people say "back pain", it can mean many things. Probably with a disc operation and a history of back pain, what I call back pain is different from yours which is from sitting in a seat designed for smaller people. I have no true back pain from the xB seats. The sides of my lower back just hurt after awhile, from the pressure of the side bolsters.

It is likely that my pain in the back from the xB seats is the same as yours. Not a back pain from a disc, but a pain around the back from being wedged into seats designed for small people. A pain from the pressure on our sides and muscles and organs, not from the vertabrae or discs themselves.

But a back pain is a back pain, so the reason is not that important.

brambling

I read on the Rostra site where they sell inflatable lumbar support, apparently you can retrofit most seats with it:

http://www.rostra.com/lumbar-support.htm

I dunno about the sized for of the people who designed it, we are getting the RS bucket seats, good side support, not the bench seats the bB has.

ScionxBeachBum

Yea i have definatly experienced back pain especially in the lower back region. It normally starts to happen around an hour of straight driving. I was thinking about changing the seats but i dont know if that will totally help with the problem.

chadfo

I've never had back pain from riding in my box. I think the seats are supportive and comfortable compared to many others I've been in.

In my experience a lot of back pain is caused from bad posture and lack of muscularity of the back. This is not true in all cases but I've experienced it personally, seen other people with similar problems, and read about it. If you don't exercise your back muscles like any other they will become weak and you will experience pain. If you don't sit with a comfortable but straight posture as much as possible you will eventually experience pain. I'm a programmer so I spend most of my day sitting in an office chair coding. I tend to lean back in the chair to get comfortable and work. That is horrible on the back because the posture isn't good and the back muscles don't get the stress they need to stay strong. I found myself at one time having to go to the chiropractor because my back muscles became week and didn't support my spinal structure. When I realized the cause, I incorporated more exercises into my workouts to strengthen my back muscles. I haven't been back to the chiroprator since.

OldYeller

Our seats do not have the adjustable lumbar supports. I would look for a pad at an autoparts store. That will force you into the correct posture.

PBflorida

I think the seat has too much curvature. The Toyota Echo seat was worse. I got major backaches after a long day of driving. I solved the problem by tying a thin cushion to the upper part of the seat. looked funny, but my back was fine. Scion seat is similar but not quite as bad. hasn't caused me a problem yet, but then again I do a lot less driving now.

Staley

My gripe about the seats is how shallow they are. Coming out of a Grand Prix and a Dodge truck, I'm used to the seat supporting most of my thigh. Other than that, I feel they are very supportive.

Jhhnn

Gotta go with PBflorida and Staley, above. If anything, the seats have too much lumbar support, and aren't long enough front to back for good thigh support- they're built for short people, as is the whole seat/ steering wheel/ pedal geometry... push the seat all the way forward... see what I mean... the car will accomodate some extremely diminutive individuals w/o modification...

My last car was an ancient Volvo 240, which, even in age, had good seats... and I kept the lumbar support at minimum... albeit taken from a later year of the same model... maybe it's the difference between a luxury car and an economy car, or maybe it's just a question of establishing the Homer Simpson butt groove in the sofa thing...

heron

The seats are comfortable at first. But there are two basic problems. 1. Even the most upright position is slightly reclined, so you are not really sitting up straight to begin with. 2. There is definitely too much curvature in the seat. They feel comfortable and when you lean back you can feel lumbar support, but the seats put you into a slouching position. For me the combination is not good.

I bought a tempurpedic lumbar support at Brookstone and that seems to be working well so far. I may go back and get the seat cushion as well. The inflatable insert looks interesting too. My mother has an Aviator with inflating lumbar support and it is fabulous.

I have gone to the Scion from an aged Volvo that finally died. That car had the most comfortable seats.

Thanks for all input!

importscout

driving scions has been the best thing for my back.. and has led me back to scions..

I used to drive low-slung sports cars... I had 4 late model trans ams before my xB.. the reclined seating posture forced my neck to crane forward for long periods, resulting in low back and neck muscle spasms.

I found to my delight after switching to the xB, I could sit up in perfect balance and posture, with my hips directly under my shoulders, and my knees bent at about 90 degrees or so to the floor.. my head was balanced over my shoulders instead of in front of them. my back felt great!

Then (stupid me) got the sports car bug again and got an eclipse.. those old problems started to creep back.. so I got myself an xA... which has a very similar seating posture to the xB.. back problems solved again.

So as far as your particular problem goes, it depends where the pain is and why.. some people need to sit reclining, others more erect... I doubt that it's the 'bounce' that causes the pain.. more likely, it's posture and sitting for prolonged periods in a position that irritates your back problem.