Anyone have a Solution for Uncomfortable Seats? Aftermarket Leather?

J

jcolmn

Member
I love my 2013 CX-5 Touring, need another car for the family, and I am looking at buying another CX-5. My main gripe with the CX-5 (my family's as well) is the uncomfortable seats. Whether a passenger or the driver, the seats provide very little support and have minimal padding. The combination of the side bolsters protruding and the head rests sticking out I cannot sit up straight in the car. The seat can be leaned back of course but then I am basically sitting up without being supported by the seat.

Anyhow, is there any major difference in seats from the 2013 to the 2014? Tour fabric to GT leather? Anyone have experience with aftermarket leather?/???

I drove my cx-5 to test drive a used lexus RX and a new RAV4 and both made me feel like I died and went to heaven. Of course driving each made me feel like I was driving one of baby activity walker things
7330_red_0700.jpg

Completely disconnected from the road.

Anyhow. I'd love to buy a CX-5 but my family and back would kill me.

I have done the Lumbar support trick (adding foam to the inside of the seat as mentioned in this forum) and that helps the lumbar area, but my upper back still has no support.

Any insight would be appreciated.
 
I bought a set of cover king seat covers. I read they help make the seats more comfortable. I havent received them yet tho but should soon and can comment then.
 
First off, I have to agree with you that these seats are not wonderful. I find I'm constantly adjusting mine ('13 Touring also) and I never seem to get really comfortable for a sustained period of time. I suspect there's more to this than just the seat design, but I'll tell you what I've done to my seat and you can decide whether it's something you want to try. After a few thousand miles, I came to the conclusion that the front of the bottom cushion was too low for me and that somehow I needed to adjust them to get more thigh support. I think this is one of the two directional adjustments that they dropped off the 8-way power adjust on the GT to get to the 6-way seats on the Touring. Having never had power seats before, this detail got by me in the numerous test drives I took. Anyway, the seat mounting is pretty simple; four bolts and it's loose (wierd Torx-type head bolts, so beware). So I loosened them up and slipped in half inch of shims under the front mounts before tightening them back down. Seemed to help some and I have been thinking about putting more shims in to get more of a rearward rake to the seat cushion. Other than that. I haven't discovered any magic bullet for this. BTW, I really don't think seat covers will make any difference!
 
jcolmn said:
I love my 2013 CX-5 Touring, need another car for the family, and I am looking at buying another CX-5. My main gripe with the CX-5 (my family's as well) is the uncomfortable seats. Whether a passenger or the driver, the seats provide very little support and have minimal padding. The combination of the side bolsters protruding and the head rests sticking out I cannot sit up straight in the car. The seat can be leaned back of course but then I am basically sitting up without being supported by the seat.

Anyhow, is there any major difference in seats from the 2013 to the 2014? Tour fabric to GT leather? Anyone have experience with aftermarket leather?/???

I drove my cx-5 to test drive a used lexus RX and a new RAV4 and both made me feel like I died and went to heaven. Of course driving each made me feel like I was driving one of baby activity walker things
7330_red_0700.jpg

Completely disconnected from the road.

Anyhow. I'd love to buy a CX-5 but my family and back would kill me.

I have done the Lumbar support trick (adding foam to the inside of the seat as mentioned in this forum) and that helps the lumbar area, but my upper back still has no support.

Any insight would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Also I'd even consider aftermarket seats.
 
paris1 said:
First off, I have to agree with you that these seats are not wonderful. I find I'm constantly adjusting mine ('13 Touring also) and I never seem to get really comfortable for a sustained period of time. I suspect there's more to this than just the seat design, but I'll tell you what I've done to my seat and you can decide whether it's something you want to try. After a few thousand miles, I came to the conclusion that the front of the bottom cushion was too low for me and that somehow I needed to adjust them to get more thigh support. I think this is one of the two directional adjustments that they dropped off the 8-way power adjust on the GT to get to the 6-way seats on the Touring. Having never had power seats before, this detail got by me in the numerous test drives I took. Anyway, the seat mounting is pretty simple; four bolts and it's loose (wierd Torx-type head bolts, so beware). So I loosened them up and slipped in half inch of shims under the front mounts before tightening them back down. Seemed to help some and I have been thinking about putting more shims in to get more of a rearward rake to the seat cushion. Other than that. I haven't discovered any magic bullet for this. BTW, I really don't think seat covers will make any difference!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. I'll try that.

By the way, I think the 8 way power seat on the GT only adds power lumbar vs manual lumbar in the Touring. I haven't actually looked at it live and in person. I made this assumption by looking at the specs of the two models
 
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I feel like a chump every time the issue of the seats come up. As I have stated previously I would not have purchased the vehicle had I driven 30 miles on a test drive at one time. The seats just flat out hurt my lower back, even just driving around town.

On the recommendation of someone on the forum I purchased one of these:
http://www.oregonaero.com/softseat

Yep, pretty terrible solution, but it allowed me to drive 4000 miles over the last two weeks with only minimal pain. Cost me about $250.
It works, but it's not pretty.
 
paris1 said:
First off, I have to agree with you that these seats are not wonderful. I find I'm constantly adjusting mine ('13 Touring also) and I never seem to get really comfortable for a sustained period of time. I suspect there's more to this than just the seat design, but I'll tell you what I've done to my seat and you can decide whether it's something you want to try. After a few thousand miles, I came to the conclusion that the front of the bottom cushion was too low for me and that somehow I needed to adjust them to get more thigh support. I think this is one of the two directional adjustments that they dropped off the 8-way power adjust on the GT to get to the 6-way seats on the Touring. Having never had power seats before, this detail got by me in the numerous test drives I took. Anyway, the seat mounting is pretty simple; four bolts and it's loose (wierd Torx-type head bolts, so beware). So I loosened them up and slipped in half inch of shims under the front mounts before tightening them back down. Seemed to help some and I have been thinking about putting more shims in to get more of a rearward rake to the seat cushion. Other than that. I haven't discovered any magic bullet for this. BTW, I really don't think seat covers will make any difference!
Click to expand...

I think I'm going to try this. Do you know the approximate size inside diameter the shim needs to be to clear the bolt going through it?
 
Anyone think there may be a safety issue with changing the seat mount? You're changing the designed seat mount angle and thus changing the loads placed on the 4 bolts during a collision. Seat behavior will as a result be different than as designed. I wonder how much this matters....
 
robertmazda said:
Anyone think there may be a safety issue with changing the seat mount? You're changing the designed seat mount angle and thus changing the loads placed on the 4 bolts during a collision. Seat behavior will as a result be different than as designed. I wonder how much this matters....
Click to expand...

My comfort is more important than the remote possibility that this minor change could work to my disadvantage in 1 out of ten thousand accidents, I'll take my chances. BTW, the bolts are torqued to the factory spec.
 
The seats are not super comfortable but I would not place them in the uncomfortable category. I'm 5' 10" and ~190 lbs, are you overweight and don't get enough support from the seat?
 
I think the CX-5 seat foam and leather material is a bit harder than usual although not so bad unlike say Korean car leather seats.

I'm comparing the CX-5 with my Lexus IS350's Nuluxe synthetic sport seats which is on the firm side and Lexus RX350's leather seats which is the complete opposite as its really soft.
 
Woodys2718 said:
Thanks.

Do you know the size of the external Torx head? I'm going to have to get a socket.
Click to expand...
I only remember that it is an odd size that I had to buy as part of a small set of 3 at Sears. I think it's something other than Torx, so you'll have to do some research. Sorry. Count the corners on the head; that should point you in the right direction.
 
Just bought the 2014 touring a few weeks ago. We had actually test drove a GT model the night before purchasing but decided to go with the touring. My wife and I assumed that both had the same power seat adjustments but after purchasing realized that the touring had the 6 way verses the 8 way of the GT. To her, this mean't the world. The extra front seat height adjustments of the 8 way was a lot better for getting that comfortable feeling verses the 6 way. She wasn't happy with it at all and had problems making the proper adjustments! She also didn't like the lumbar support she received. We did purchase an aftermarket leather package during purchase because leather was a must for her. When we got the leather added, she really likes the comfort of the seats more. Due to the firmness of the leather, the lumbar adjustment was more pronounced. She also liked the overall seat feeling. Before the leather was added, she was talking about adding something to the seat to make it more comfortable. Now she's happy. So, the added leather in our case made a big difference.
 
Of the mods I've made so far (mudflaps, all weather mats, tint, LED DRL's, front/rear visors and hood protector) the mod I did today may just save my CX 5 from the used car lot.

My Touring has only a 6-way adjustable drivers seat. The seat portion does not tilt and sits way too flat for me. I've placed nearly 2000 miles on it since early July and like many others here, I am constantly fidgeting around trying to get comfortable.

Thanks to the idea of paris1 I too have raised the front portion of my seat to give my legs some support. I am very pleased with the result. Today I've put about 50 miles on the vehicle and it was a pleasure, my back felt better my legs felt better, what a transformation. Now if I can only come up with a solution to the center console and door armrests being to short, my comfort whoes will be completely solved.

I used (2) 1/2" x 1'' long spacers and (2) 10mm x 1.25 (thread pitch) x 50mm bolts, both purchased at Menards. I also used a couple washers under the bolt heads. I purchased a set of external torx sockets from Sears to remove/loosen the OEM bolts.

It is a very simple installation. All 4 bolts holding the seat down are easily accessible. Remove the 2 front bolts, loosen the 2 rear bolts. Lift up the front of the seat, insert spacers, drop new bolts and washers in and tighten. Tighten down the rears, done.

The bolts on the left are the OEMs along side the new hardware.
20130914_121552_zps4a004131.jpg
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20130914_122149_zps67e41596.jpg
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Now I understand the below photo looks pretty radical. The assembly guide pin is no longer in its slot behind the bolt/spacer. Even so, the seat is as solid as it was with the OEM set up.
20130914_122137_zps68fa03c8.jpg
[/URL][/IMG]
 
Be sure to buy the highest grade hex bolts available... Last thing you want in an accident is for the bolt to shear and launch your body in x direction.

Here is some reference for different grades and their min yield/tensile strength. Both applicable.

http://www.engineersedge.com/hex_bolt_identification.htm


Having looked into this and see that there is instead a position pin in the seat next to the bolt mount for added shear strength... I wouldn't go adding enough spacers to take the pin out of its hole. Though of course I can't stop anyone from doing so, I can only suggest that if you are going to do such mod, do it as safe as possible.
 
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