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Comments
Given that Honda considers their lumbar support a plus, I'm pretty sure they won't be changing their seats anytime soon.
Also, their lumbar support is only the result of their stupid active head retraint design....No active head restriaint = no football in your back!
Thanks in advance.
Thinking about putting seat covers on our new 2008 Accord LX-P for protection. Any body have some? Any recommentions? Thinking about getting them from coverking.com
Thanks,
David
Overall, very frustrating.
How hard was it to fix the driver side based on your description above? I am not close to being a machanic. Do you think it would be best for me to print out what you have here and take it into the shop to adjust? Any other details that you think would be helpful to know? Just looking to get a sense of if this was a pretty easy fix.
The driver seat has gotten me so frustrated that I have looked at trading the car in a couple times.
If you have some time to talk offline that would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance!
Damien
so you would have rather that I my sell the car ( like others here on this forum had suggested they may have to do), secondary to the painful plate and loss thousands of dollars..right?
the two seats, driver and passenger are now the same comfort.... lets see what other peoples post will say or do.
Thanks Jazz
On the contrary, the Accord has been praised for it's seats. I have the 03 EX V6 (with leather) and I love the seats. Just the right amount of bolstering, so I don't slide when taking a hard corner. There is plenty of padding, it's just not pillowy soft like a Camry seat. I don't want my car seat to feel like a Lazy-boy. I made a quick trip to Biloxi this morning (300 miles), and I was very comfortable. If you wanted your car to feel like sitting in your living room, you bought the wrong car. Camry or a Buick would more likely suit your taste in seats.
You have to try BMW or WV seats. If you try BMW sport seats you will be dumping your accord in 10 secs.
Lots of honda 2001-2003 year auto trans behind 7/100K miles warranty and people paying 3-4.5K for new one... build to last, huh? :P
What did you do about it? Did the seats get any better?. I am having the same problem and am very upset about it. I have owned Honda's since the early 1990s and have not have many problems. What is the modification?
Thank you,
Michael
With only 500 miles on the car I could not believe Honda would manufacture seats this poorly. After talking with the dealership, they simply pulled another new LX-P in the shop compared the seats, and said, “Well, they are the same on both vehicles, so it’s not a warranty problem.”
Trust me, from now on I will insist on an hour long test drive before purchasing a car but I digress.
Later that night, and after a couple of beers, I got the “I can do this attitude,” I mustered the nerve to open the seats on a brand new car.
Long story short, there is a convex plastic backing piece that is held by the active head restrain actuators. The convex nature of this piece puts pressure right on your spine and the actuators put the pressure against your back. (If you sit in the drivers seat and pull the headrest towards you, you will feel the back pressure being removed.)
This convex piece is held in place by two wire “hangers” that connect these to the actuators. For the time being, I removed the lower “hanger.” And since then, I am able to drive the car for hours without any pain. But NOTE: THIS DISABLES THE ACTIVE HEAD RESTRAIN SAFTY FEATURE. I am working with a local fabricator to create a modified “hanger” part that can be replaced on these vehicles which will keep the active head restrain intact and provides comfort for the driver.
All told, the entire modification process took about 15 minutes.
In the next couple of weeks I will upload a video on YouTube which describes the process.
Never felt Honda had a good handle on their set design for 2008-current Accords.
In my case the "bulge" seems to be just above the lumbar "support". Basically, my back bends out right where the seat bulges, so no support above or below that point. The lumbar does something but doesn't help the upper back area.... I end up with about 4 hours of mid back pain for every hour I spend in the car.
I think it is the head restraint "plate", since when I do a hard stop, I can feel the bulge area specifically press harder into my back. It makes a hard stop seem almost unsafe.
I went to my dealer who, while not officially acknowledging problems did actually have a shop manager who wants to know how I fix this, since he has a similar problem in this Honda Fit.
I showed them your post, and they said they would not be able to disable the restraint connection, but did agree (verbally) that that could be the cause of my problem.
I also contacted two reputable local upholstery shops who said they have been basically inundated with complaints in the last few weeks as more peoples are buying cars again. Unfortunately they also said they could not disconnect a safety device. The suggested fix perhaps involves adding foam around this plate. At any rate we are going to look at it tomorrow.
If they can't find a good fix I may attempt to do this myself. Can you please explain how to access this part of the seat? Do you only remove the seat back? Did you disconnect the battery? Any advice appreciated.
Otherwise my only alternative may be to sell a perfectly good car and take a several thousand $ loss. I normally keep cars for around 10 years, and I don't think my spine can survive this punishment for 10 more weeks.
I guess the issue really is how to get Honda do to something about this. I've been told by the dealer and every independent mechanic and garage I've contacted so far that they cannot disable a federally mandated safety device.
I go to an upholsterer tomorrow morning, coincidentally another Accord owner is coming too,. Apparently they have been receiving several calls a dayabout this problem. Maybe they can address it by moving foam around....but again, I'd like to see the video of how to do this myself, if youtube doesn't remove it for legal reasons...
This is a real Catch 22. I think that more harm is being done to customer's spines than anything mitigated by the active head restraints. Shame on Honda for covering this up for almost 2 years. I will never even consider a Honda product again.
I may get it put back and try it with this "Sacro Ease" framed cushion I purchased ($120) , which also helps some. I had it bent at Health Back Store (they will custom adjust it for free) to support my UPPER back. That was better, but now I want the lumbar back again. Then maybe my whole back will be actually away from the seat contour. Problem is the "Sacro Ease takes some space and sort of negates the side bolstering. :mad:
Really getting ridiculous (and expensive). I am going to look at a trade-in on a different vehicle that was on my short list. I would be willing to lose a couple of thousand to have a car I can sit in for 8-10 years.
Then again, perhaps my back will "adjust".
I am amazed that more people don't HATE this piece of $#%^ seat back design.
Sell the Accord and buy a Nissan Altima or a Mazda 6. Both have far more comfortable seats.
Joe
Different seats for different shapes.
To all prospective new Honda buyers, please drive it for at least one hour before making your decision. Rent one if you have to.
You always loose more money when you trade in. Honda is one of the best cars you can sell on your own. You must be patient while trying to sell it on your own. We lost $2K for a 16 month old Accord EX with 9K miles. It sat in third garage Nov-March due to being terrible time of the year to sell a car.
I am not sure Accord crappy seat has anything to do with their active head restraining system. Everyone these days uses the system. In fact, Volvo pioneered the system and I am sure your C30 has the system.
Accord seat back design is simply POOR. Honda thinks they got it right, but I feel they are clueless as what a comfortable seat design should feel like.
My 2001 MB E430 has to have the benchmark for front seat comfort. With its 21 gallon tank, I have done 535 miles w/o stopping in that car. There was no way I could take more than two hours in our 2008 Accord.
Joe
My benchmark seat was my 200 BMW 328, it had lumbar that went up and down, as well as in and out. I don't see how lumbar can accomodate different height drivers without that feature.
My next car will either be a Toyota or Lexus (but most are boring to drive) or something with the up/down lumbar.
But hopefully, my back can recover, and I can drive my C30 for a few years!