Improving the lumbar adjustment range on the CX-5 Touring (and possibly GT)

I've only had my CX-5 for a week, but was disappointed with the maximum support available when the lumbar doohickey (a technical term) was set to it's firmest setting.

On another car I'd added an inflatable lumbar pillow behind the seat, so today I delved into the back of the CX-5's seat to see if there was an easy way to do the same thing. Instead I found that the range of the existing adjuster was actually quite good, it's just that it starts WAY back and there's actually a gap between the 'push' plate and the back of the seat cushion at the 'lowest' settiing. So I cut a piece of foam and inserted it between the plate and the cushion and it has increased the maximum support beautifully! No inflatable pillow needed.

OK, so the way the Touring's manual lumbar support works is this: there's a rectangular nylon 'push' plate roughly 5 by 9 inches that is clipped onto horizontal bar. When you adjust the lever, the bar moves toward the seat back and pushes the nylon plate against the back cushion. Simple! I would assume the GT lumbar adjuster works the same way - just motorized - and if so, this same mod would work for GT owners too.

OK, the 'how-to' is easy (sorry, no photos, but you really don't need them):

1) I took some 2-inch-thick stiff packing foam (regular foam, NOT the polystyrene stuff!) and cut out a rectangle 10 inches by 7 inches (and 2" thick), and then beveled the edges a bit around one side. To cut the foam I just used one of those dollar-store slide-out knives - the type where you break off segments whenever the tip gets blunt. I extended it out to the fullest and cut carefully, so it didn't snap and cause an accident!
2) Then you need to get in the back seat of the car and untuck the back bottom of the seat fabric to expose the zipper tabs, unzip both sides to the top. (No need to unclip the lower edge of the seat fabric, though you can if you want.)
3) With the lumbar adjuster all the way 'released' slide the foam in between the 'push' plate and the seatback cushion, beveled edges toward the cushion. If you use 2" thick foam as I did, that's thicker than the gap and should stay wedged in place. If you have thinner foam you could glue or velcro it in place to stop it falling out.
4) Before zipping everything up, test the seat for placement and comfort. I have my foam's bottom edge level with the bottom of the plate and overlapping about 2 inches at the top to raise the support point higher up my back.
5) Once placed, tested and fine, zip the seat fabric back down and tuck the ends back in. Done!

Much more support, and very easy to do (provided you can find some stiff foam) it only took me about 20 minutes . As I said, mine's just wedged in there for now, but if I find it moves I'll have to attach it more firmly and will report back

Good luck!

Never noticed that mine needed any more support. But for those who might, this sounds like an easy fix.

Good info. I have my lumbar support deployed 1/2 to 3/4 and it seems pretty supportive but I'll pay more attention to it. It feels too hard when fully deployed.

Useful tips:

I make custom saddles for my motorcycles so I can hit 500-600 miles/day without the numb butt most OEM saddles leave me with. The best thing to carve foam rubber with is an electric turkey knife (short of an expensive professional foam carver). I find them in new condition at 2nd hand stores for about $5. The next best thing is a newer serrated bread knife.

Final shaping can be done with a random orbit sander and 80-100 grit paper.

Better hardware stores sell spray glue for foam rubber. That will insure your foam won't creep out of position with time.

For seatbacks you can use the more common lower density foams but, if you want to modify the seating surface, it's best to spend more for a high density foam. It can be quite hard and still provide all day comfort as long as it is shaped properly for your bottom. Lower density foam collapses under too much weight and will not be comfortable for long.

It's a nice feature that Mazda uses zippers on the seat upholstery.

I'm the exact opposite. I don't use any lumbar support at all

Thanks to the OP for this tip. One of my complaints (and my family's too) is the lack of comfort in the cx-5 seats. Even the driver seat is hard for me to get comfortable.

I did this lumbar fix within 10 minutes and the seats much better.

Now if I can only figure out how Mazda was able to put the center arm rest and door arm rest at the exact height that doesn't match the seating height for my size.

jcolmn said:

Now if I can only figure out how Mazda was able to put the center arm rest and door arm rest at the exact height that doesn't match the seating height for my size.

Click to expand...

My guess is they used the same design measurements for these components as on their sedans and then raised the seat height 6 inches to provide that "view over traffic" that is the raison d'tre for the SUV.