Is anybody having seat comfort issues?

The seats are one of the reasons I opted to buy a 2019 Acura RDX A-Spec over the CX-5. The seats on my wifes 2016 CX-5 are comfortable enough but the bottom is so short in length as to give no thigh support for my 34 inseam legs.

I drove the 2019 CX-5 Signature and just wasnt all that impressed by the vehicle. It was just a car, so I shopped the Acura after watching every YouTube video on both cars. ( was so surprised at how impressed I found the Acura. The A-Spec unit with red seats won my heart. 10 speed transmission, turbo 4 cylinder.

Padre Dave01 said:

The seats are one of the reasons I opted to buy a 2019 Acura RDX A-Spec over the CX-5. The seats on my wife*s 2016 CX-5 are comfortable enough but the bottom is so short in length as to give no thigh support for my 34* inseam legs.

I drove the 2019 CX-5 Signature and just wasn*t all that impressed by the vehicle. It was *just a car*, so I shopped the Acura after watching every YouTube video on both cars. ( was so surprised at how impressed I found the Acura. The A-Spec unit with red seats won my heart. 10 speed transmission, turbo 4 cylinder.

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For at least $8.5k more, the RDX had better be nicer than the CX-5, lol. Interesting that the EPA rating between the two is virtually the same (21/27 RDX AWD 10-speed, 22/27 CX-5 AWD 6-speed). They also have the same 0-60 time at 6.4 seconds, according to MotorTrend. I'm sure the RDX is a much better experience for the passenger though.

Did you consider any other vehicles besides the CX-5 and RDX? QX50, XC60, etc.? Just curious.

^^^ I spent some time in the new Acuras this last year at the LA Auto Show and honestly I thought the interiors were hideous. They're just too busy for my taste.

sulaco said:

We had a 2016.5 Touring with cloth seats and both my wife and I (she is 5'6" and weighs about 95lbs, I am 6'2" and weigh about 250lbs) liked those seats just fine. I have a lot of trouble sitting for long periods because of knee problems, and eventually my hips will start complaining too. This car was the first one we've had since we were married twelve years ago that I can sit in for longer than two hours without needing to get out and stretch.

We now have a 2019 Touring with the pleather seats and they seem less supportive and differently shaped. Still comfortable but definitely different. They have been fine for short commutes and drives so far but this weekend we'll be driving four hours so I'll see how they do for me. My wife's opinion is very different from mine when it comes to supportive or comfortable seats just due to our size difference. I weigh two and a half times more than her!

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Okay, back from the four hour (one way, 8 hours total in two days) trip and the seats in our '19 are definitely less comfortable than in our old "16.5. I wish they hadn't changed them. My right hip bothered me most of the ride. I was okay to keep driving, but certainly not anywhere near as comfortable as I was in our '16.5. I could drive forever in those seats.

When we bought our '19 we also test drove a new old stock '18 Grand Touring with real leather and those seats were much more comfortable than the pleather seats in our '19. Mazda definitely changed something. I am sure it has to do with user feedback and another way to further differentiate the now lower spec'd models (Touring, Grand Touring) from the new higher spec models for the '19 model year. Too bad. Seems like a bad move by Mazda.

Thankfully I don't drive the '19 much, my wife does. My Tacoma seats are great!

sulaco said:

My right hip bothered me most of the ride.

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THAT describes most of my rides, regardless of the distance. And my right hip aches afterwards as well.

I've noticed is that I like to sit/lean towards the center of the car, and sit back far away from the steering wheel. These seats are too shallow and narrow for all that. You gotta be firmly planted square behind the wheel; otherwise, you're putting pressure against the right bolster.

I think seat adjustments and sitting position need to be dialed in most exacting than in other vehicles. I'm still hopeful I can find the right position. An old-style seat belt to strap me down firmly in place sure would help.

This is really a stupid thing to be dealing with. In my 50 years of owning cars manufactured in every decade from 1950s to the present, I've never encountered anything like this. Perhaps we should be posting our age, in addition to height/weight/waist. I wonder if younger people are having this problem to this degree.

Avoidin Deer said:

THAT describes most of my rides, regardless of the distance. And my right hip aches afterwards as well.

I've noticed is that I like to sit/lean towards the center of the car, and sit back far away from the steering wheel. These seats are too shallow and narrow for all that. You gotta be firmly planted square behind the wheel; otherwise, you're putting pressure against the right bolster.

I think seat adjustments and sitting position need to be dialed in most exacting than in other vehicles. I'm still hopeful I can find the right position. An old-style seat belt to strap me down firmly in place sure would help.

This is really a stupid thing to be dealing with. In my 50 years of owning cars manufactured in every decade from 1950s to the present, I've never encountered anything like this. Perhaps we should be posting our age, in addition to height/weight/waist. I wonder if younger people are having this problem to this degree.

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I couldn't have said it better myself.

I'm 36 years old, 5'9", and about 160 lbs. I sit in my 2017 exactly as you do. My right hip is always bothering me after any amount of distance.

I'm a little more limited as I have a rear facing car seat in the center, so I can't go as far back as I like. But I'm holding out hope that I can find a comfortable position where my right hip doesn't hurt.

Wasn't it posted somewhere that Mazda had a recommended seating position for the driver? I could have sworn I saw a video about this.

Past weekend I became a happy owner of '17 CX5 GT.
Right after the purchase we went on 5 hrs drive to Outer banks NC. The seat comfort is the only thing that bothers me so far.
I've rented 2019 cx5 for work before and it was even worse (seat was probably not broken in yet). At some point I was getting numb feeling in hips/butt.
I am going to try and find an upholstery place that can possibly remove hard bolsters on the sides and replace them with something softer. If its going to cost $250-300 - its worth it for length of owing the car.
Will update if it helped once I do this.

Arcticshade said:

I couldn't have said it better myself.

I'm 36 years old, 5'9", and about 160 lbs. I sit in my 2017 exactly as you do. My right hip is always bothering me after any amount of distance.

I'm a little more limited as I have a rear facing car seat in the center, so I can't go as far back as I like. But I'm holding out hope that I can find a comfortable position where my right hip doesn't hurt.

Wasn't it posted somewhere that Mazda had a recommended seating position for the driver? I could have sworn I saw a video about this.

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I don't know if there's a video, but I posted that there are very specific step-by-step instructions in the Owner's Manual on how to properly adjust the driver's sitting position (Section 2-8). It helped a bit, and put me closer to the steering wheel than I'm used to driving. I need to go through it again, making certain I am dead-center in the seat. I've never seen an owner's manual go into such detail on this subject.

I think the main reason I naturally lean to the right is because that's where the accelerator pedal is. Sitting further back as I am want to do, the angle/reach of my right leg is great than it is when sitting as close as the Mazda manual recommends. This reach/angle in the CX-5 puts the back of my leg right on the bolster, so sitting way back makes things worse. I am not use to having my heel stay fixed on the floor and pivoting my foot between it and the brake as the manual recommends, but the up-close position helps this.

I just hate sitting with my nose in the windshield. It's not literally that bad, but it's not my preferred position. It takes getting used to.

We just got a 2019 sport 2.4 liter and the test drive was only about 5 miles and
didn't have a problem with seat comfort. Now after driving 100 miles , I can tell
seat is not comfortable ! Hope it 'breaks in ' , I had a 99 ranger for 20 years and that
seat was always nice .

joemazdacx5 said:

We just got a 2019 sport 2.4 liter and the test drive was only about 5 miles and
didn't have a problem with seat comfort. Now after driving 100 miles , I can tell
seat is not comfortable ! Hope it 'breaks in ' , I had a 99 ranger for 20 years and that
seat was always nice .

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so it's not just the leather and leatherette seats?

my sport has the cloth seats............
to me it seems like to much pressure on butt area,
I messed around with the adjustments yesterday,
but will take some time to see if it feels better

also,could just be me , my height , weight , etc.......

joemazdacx5 said:

my sport has the cloth seats............
to me it seems like to much pressure on butt area,
I messed around with the adjustments yesterday,
but will take some time to see if it feels better

also,could just be me , my height , weight , etc.......

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Try following the process laid out in the owner's manual. I know it sounds silly, reading directions on how to sit...

ok, will give it a try

Avoidin Deer said:

... These seats are too shallow and narrow for all that. You gotta be firmly planted square behind the wheel; otherwise, you're putting pressure against the right bolster. ...

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So, this morning I was actively searching for a position where the seat bolster would be in the way. I had to literally sit on the inside edge of the seat, right up against the center console. Do people really sit like that, or are the seats in the Sig different than the other models?

Sig cx-5 said:

So, this morning I was actively searching for a position where the seat bolster would be in the way. I had to literally sit on the inside edge of the seat, right up against the center console. Do people really sit like that, or are the seats in the Sig different than the other models?

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Try elevating your seat and then drive around. Your leg should hit the right bolster and/or aggravate your right hip.

In my specific case, I was sitting too high in the seat. Until Deer pointed out the sitting position I had no idea that was sitting wrong. I'm still fine tuning the perfect position but lowering the seat definitely helped.

Arcticshade said:

Try elevating your seat and then drive around. Your leg should hit the right bolster and/or aggravate your right hip.

In my specific case, I was sitting too high in the seat. Until Deer pointed out the sitting position I had no idea that was sitting wrong. I'm still fine tuning the perfect position but lowering the seat definitely helped.

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If I raise the seat, I'll be hitting my head on the headliner. I always drive with the seat at it's lowest point, in all vehicles, due to my height. That said, my wife is over a foot shorter than me and does raise her seat. I asked her about seat comfort, but she said she has no complaints.

Sig cx-5 said:

So, this morning I was actively searching for a position where the seat bolster would be in the way. I had to literally sit on the inside edge of the seat, right up against the center console. Do people really sit like that, or are the seats in the Sig different than the other models?

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I have a Reserve. They should be the same seats, excepting color.

The bolster is not in my way, per se, but it does apply pressure to my right side. I just took a measurement. The rear part of the seat in my truck is 2" wider than in my Reserve, and the bolsters in it are not only softer, but they are not as tall. In comparison, the Reserve seats are almost like a narrow deep bucket with tall, hard sides. There's no room to "man-spread."

Part of is it certainly body shape. But as you point out, the other part is our individual sitting preferences, not only position on the seat but distance from the dash (forward/back) as well as angle of the legs (seat tilt forward/tilt back).

Funny you should mention the console. I found that I do lean towards the console. My "normal" driving position is not straight behind the wheel. I never really noticed it in other vehicles. And while you felt that you were right up against the console, sitting dead center makes me feel too close to the driver's door. Now that I am aware of my "leanings," I find myself scootching back to the center of the seat as I drive because I naturally drift back to them.

As I've said, I've owned cans manufactured in every decade from the 50s to the present and have never had an issue with uncomfortable seats...I just sit & go. Heck, I had a car that had no seat adjustments whatsoever. But I'm confident that I can retweak things here and fit a good spot...things improved on my first attempt. I just need to adopt new sitting habits: straight behind the wheel, dead center in the seat, closer to the dash & pedals (rather than sitting Cadillac-far), lower to the ground to reduce leg angle.

I am 510, short-torsoed, long-legged, full-figured. Im getting neck and back aches and other aches on long drives in my lovely new 2019 CX-5 Signature, Birdie ZoomZoom. Ive got a soft throw pillow from my living room and two sizes of little foam pillows and TWO Gokhale stretchsit hanging pillows bouncing around Birdie right now! But I just cant get comfortable with any combination thereof. It seems like Im sitting crooked and also my outer thighs complain. I LOVED the nice straight-backed seats in my last car, now deceased , a 1999 HONDA CRV...only needed the stretchsit pillow. Any suggestions? Thank you very much from Catherine in Santa Monica CA.

I have to admit that after a several hundred mile road trip, mine has been fine. I was expecting problems but it hasn*t been. I would still prefer non bolstered seats and not made from leather.

Brothers and sisters, I've come to join you in your misery.

I love everything about the 2015 CX-5 I just bought except the damn seats. I'm a big fella, we keep getting told there's an obesity crisis in the US, and yet car manufacturers are apparently making seats for horse jockeys who race cars in their off time. I test drove a kia sportage, was ready to pull the trigger, but the side molding sat RIGHT on my kidneys. 20 minute test drive and I felt like I'd been kidney punched on both sides for about 2 hours.

The big "laugh/cry" thing about all this is that I see people who don't like the lumbar support in the CX-5. I have a thin as ice lowest-disc in my back and have had some bad episodes of sciatica and yet I loved, LOVED how my lower back felt in the CX-5. NOTHING feels good on my lower back! Just goes to show how we're all different (and frickin' car makers need to understand that)

Anyway, my problem is the CX-5, at least when I test drove it, felt like it was pushing my shoulders in a bit, as in toward each other like a hunch, instead of allowing them to be flat like with the seats in the two ~'00 mini-vans we have now. So the CX-5 kinda aggravated pre-existing issues in my UPPER back. (Seriously, can you even buy a late model car wit a flat backed, well supported seat in 2021? Or should we be spending time sleeping in these g*dd*mn seats so our spines will deform enough to fit into them?

Sorry, got distracted.

Anyway, given the side air bag issue and the sensors and stuff, I'm starting to think that replacement after markets are out of the question, even though I can see the exact flat-backed style I just mentioned. Does anybody know of an aftermarket seat maker that incorporates compatible technology to essentially mimic a stock seat, but designed differently? I'm ready to drop, I dunno, up to $500 for a single driver's seat shaped the way I want. But I haven't found a manufacturer that does this. Right now I've just bought a 30 dollar pillow another poster recommended.

Anyway, no real point here, just sharing my pain with you all...literally.