I just bought my brand new 2011 white Honda Fit Sport eight days ago. I love it, love it, love it! What an amazing little car. How did they get that much space into such a little car? A great little urban car that I hope to bop around town in for about two years, until I get a larger car.

But.....after four days of driving my Fit to work (about 1 hour or so round trip), my lower back started hurting. Bad. And a bit of achiness in the mid-back region, but mainly my lumbar area.

My back doesn't hurt while I'm in the car. In fact, the seats feel pretty comfy to me. (I'm trying to get that darned headrest out of the way and stop it from bopping me in the back of the head.) It's just that when I wake up in the mornings, suddenly after four days of driving the Fit daily, I was so stiff that I had trouble walking. My back loosened up in about half an hour. Classic arthritis symptoms. (I'm middle aged and have the typical touch of middle aged arthritis, but I NEVER wake up stiff like that in the mornings.)

I did do some new exercises last week. Nothing that I noticed strained my back, but still, that was something new. OR...maybe I'm going through an adjustment period, where my body is getting used to the new car seats and sitting position?

Before anyone chastises me for not test driving, I DID test drive the car. And as I said, my back pain appeared after four days of driving it daily for at least an hour a day. And my back still doesn't hurt actually while I'm in the car. It's later.

I'm wondering if anyone had to go through an adjustment period to get used to the new seats? I'm hoping it's either the new exercises I did last week, or an adjustment period. How bad would it be that I got this brand new way cute little car, and I would have to lose thousands of dollars selling it because it hurt my back? Tell me that's not gonna happen! The seats are firm, but my last car's seats were firm; many car seats are firm.

 

Trying stuffing a rolled up towel behind you. Fit seats are notoriously uncomfortable.

 

I'm surprised this is one of the bigger complaints against the Fit, I actually find them really comfortable. I've read that people don't like it because of the lumbar support which doesn't seem to be adjustable. Either way, a good lumbar should help your back.

 

I was in similar position when I bought mine. My sciatica started killing me.

So:

1 - do the gas pedal mod. https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-...rn-spring.html

2 - raise front of seat. Put two to three washers on the front bolts between seat and floor.

 

Middle-aged here as well... complete with the arthritis and middle-age spread too.

I had my Fit for a several day test drive before the deal was finalized and had no issue with the seats.

After the deal was finalized I started to have some issue with the seats... go figure on the timing of that.

Months later I have completely adjusted to the seats.

I figure it is one or a combination of the following:

-seats breaking-in
-me being a few pounds lighter
-just adjusting to the new seating postion

 

I'm convinced that you need at least a 300-mile drive to know if a seat is going to be comfortable. Lack of lumbar support was one of the first comfort issues that I addressed. I found a pair of black mesh lumbar supports @ 2 for $10. These can be found in lots of places, such as pharmacies, office supply, etc. An elastic strap holds the lumbar support in place. Since the stock Sport upholstery is black, they are not particularly noticeable, but they work very nicely, providing a little extra support for the lower back, as well as some air flow through the mesh. After 2 years and 33,000 miles, they are holding up reasonably well, although a lot of dust gets trapped in the upholstery behind them; I have to remove and vacuum occasionally.

 

I am in the same boat as you guys. Middle aged with aching back and sciatica on my left leg . I am only 155 lbs and I don't think my weight is the concern. I think it is the lack of support / cushion on the seat is the culprit and nothing else. I don't have issues like this with my 3 other cars. Don't get me wrong, it is still a good car. As small as it is, I can fit 2 bikes with the back seats folded. Amazing!
Good thing the car will be passed on to my daughter very soon because it is not good for my back.

 

Next time rent one for a weekDo they rent Fit's?

They are not comfortable compared to anything else I have owned or are they? But I had no issues until I did a 9 hour road trip. Is it age and condition or am I spoiled and demand luxury and want to be pampered?

In the 60's I had a Mustang, Falcon and a Corvair. Were the seats in them really better I was in my 20's and me thinks I was better

The human condition is such that most can adapt to anything. Those that cannot adapt do not survive, just Mother nature's way.
JIm 0311

 

you could buy a lower back support cushion in a medical supply store.
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.
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my lower back was a tad stiff early on after buying my fit. but it went away after a few weeks. but in my case it was never severe.

 

broken hip, broken pelvic bone, lower back injury, collapsed cervical spine etc. my body has a much higher milage than usual so, maybe that is the reason i am feeling everything right now . Or just accept that I am old. lol

 

Getting old sucks (I turned 65 in June). I still ride motorcycles, but not nearly as aggressively as I did a decade ago. Healing takes a lot longer than it did when I was a squid in my 20's. I got my first titanium bits about 16 months ago, and I'm not looking forward to any more technology enhancements.

 

After looking at all the posts, thought I'd share with you this thread in case you haven't seen it yet. Everyone or majority anyway, I think agrees of the not-so-normal sitting position. This simple mod helped a lot of us find a more comfortable driving position. Might be worth your while:
https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-...ml#post1008763

And no, it doesn't make you younger... Sorry

 

After reading most of the posts, it seems different people will have different "seat experiences" based on our history, body shapes, sizes... so the FIT seats is definitely not a one size fits all.. some will find it horrendous while others will find FIT seats OK and some in between. Using towels, lumbar support as suggested by others is a good idea to tweak to our optimal sitting position

Coming from the Accord world, it took me 6 months to get used to FIT seats. A miracle happened to me as well... the neck ache that I used to suffer when I slouched into the Accord seat for the last 10 years was gone after upgrading to FIT !

To help acclimatize to my FIT seat, I bought this (image below) for $20 to support my lumbar.. similar to others in the post and it worked like a charm. The back lumbar support is velco with adjustable height to fit into the best part of your back-bone that you feel the most comfortable in

 

I'm also surprised that so many people complain about the seats. I can't figure out if Honda accidentally put nicer seats in my car, or if the majority of Fit owners only rode in a Lexus or Cadillac for the past 10 years.

I traded in an e46 BMW for my Fit, and although the BMW's seats were noticeably nicer and more comfortable, the Fit has hardly left me disappointed. Sure the seats are nothing to write home about, but it's hard for me to honestly expect more from a car this cheap.

Maybe try one of those add-on lumbar supports, and maybe a super comfy headrest pillow.

 

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. It seems that my awful backache and super-stiffness in the mornings has ALMOST gone away as quickly as it appeared. Maybe it WAS those new exercises that I did last week. Or maybe I did have to adjust to the new seats/seating position. I hope the pain doesn't come back in full force.

To all those who gave suggestions to make the seats more comfy, I don't find the seats uncomfortable. That's what was perplexing me. It seemed to me that if a seat would cause me back trouble, that it would cause me pain while I was sitting in it, which it didn't. As for adding lumbar support, I can't see that there's room for that....seems to me that the Fit driver's seat already has a built-in lumbar support. I noticed that right away, when I test drove. That there is a bulge in the seat in the lumbar region, similar to my old car's adjustable lumbar support, only more so. I find that lumbar support in the Fit suits me, but was wondering if maybe it bulged out too much or something, causing my lumbar pain.

I knew that I was buying a budget car without the best driving position. But I think the seats do just fine for me, as long as they don't cause me back problems. Since the pain has almost gone away, I'm hopeful it was those new exercises I did last week. I'm also not overweight (okay....I confess I need to lose 10 pounds), but as far as body size goes, I'm a female and normal weight and size.

I had a 14 year old Subaru Forester. I loved that car, but hardly a luxury car with comfy seats. The seats were intentionally firm, but I must say, the Forester has one of the best driving positions I've ever encountered. It also had manual lumbar support. I knew I wouldn't be getting that kind of seating position in a Fit. Still, I'm pretty satisfied with the Fit's seats (now, if I can resolve the headrest issue, I'll be good to go).

I may try a removeable seat back and bottom cushion like those recommended above, where you just attach it to the seat, to make the seat thicker and so my head would be further away from the headrest. My old Forester's headrests actually fit into the slots in the Fit front seats...but I don't think I can sell my old car w/o headrests (safety issue), and it looks pretty bad in my new car, since my Forester headrests are gray. Still, that was a nice coincidence to find.

I can also buy older Fit headrests off Ebay. Anyone know when the Fit's headrests changed to be the jutting/angling forward ones? I think 2009 is when that started, but I'm not sure.

Anyway, thanks for all your suggestions. I hope my back trouble is resolving permanently and it wasn't the Fit's seats, or I needed to adjust to them. I absolutely love my new little car. I don't think I've ever been this delighted with a new car. I loved my Forester, but my appreciation of that car grew over the years. I didn't start out loving it as much I love this new Fit. (I didn't like the new Foresters, obviously, or I would've bought one of those.) Thanks, all!

 

Here's the best way to fix the seat.

Not very cheap or easy but to me it was totally worth it.







If you look at that second pic you can really see the difference in the bottom and back cusions. The "lumbar" support lump on the Fit seat is actually a mechanism that pushes the headrest forward in a crash. It's way higher than the inflatable lumbar support on the recaro seat.

 

While they had my Fit at the dealership getting it blinged
out after the deal was finalized... they provided me with
a new CR-V to roll with until the Fit was ready.

I absolutely loved the CR-V including the roomy seating
as compared to the Fit, but it was 10k more.

Maybe when the Fit is paid off in a year I will consider
the CR-V for these aching bones.

 

Well, I spoke too soon. My lumbar pain is back. Not as bad as before, but it's pretty much always present, now. And the pain in my mid-back area has increased. Today, a new pain showed up...a sharp pain on one side of my neck (oh, and my shoulder on that side). And yes, my right leg and foot started getting numb.

In the short span of two weeks, I have changed from a physically fit, completely normal middle aged, normal sized woman, with no physical ailments or medical conditions whatsoever, except for a touch of mild arthritis that was only noticeable once in a while if I did something wrong, to a person who is constantly aching in one part of my body or another. This is definitely not normal, and it's definitely the Fit seats. I dread the thought, now, of getting in the thing and driving to and from work. My back ached only after I got out of the Fit before, but now it's constant aching while in the seats.

In lookng at the seats, wondering what the heck they did to make them so painful, I noticed that the back of the seat is too concave, forcing the shoulders and upper body to somewhat curve forward. Also, like a poster above mentioned, that sticking out part near the lumbar is actually above the lumbar (part of the restraint system); it's well padded because there's a metal thing in there, I guess. But that could be part of the problem. Also, the bottom of the seat angles down from the knee area toward where the butt sits. Maybe that's part of the problem. I don't know. I'm not an engineer or ergonomic expert.

Also..the headrest is a problem. I've had to remove it. When I angle the seat backwards to try to get it out of the way, it's hard to reach the steering wheel. For big men who don't understand this, consider that a woman has, proportional to her height, longer legs and shorter arms than a man. If I were a man, I would sit closer to the steering because I'd have a bit shorter legs, but I could then angle my seat backward, so that my long arms would have a comfortable reach to the steering wheel. For me, being a woman, it's just the opposite. In a couple of positions I tried, my knees were actually up against the bottom of the steering wheel column, in order for my arms to comfortably reach the steering wheel, when seat was angled back. That might protect my neck from whiplash, but it would destroy my knees in short order with just a bumper accident. So...no headrest, so that I can sit away from the wheel to accommodate my long legs, and put the seat upright so I can reach the wheel with some bent still in my arms.

I'm very upset about this. My brand new cute car that I was so proud of and happy with. How can this be? I was up late last night trying all sorts of things to make it comfortable and not hurt me...foam pillows, small skinny throw pillos, a makeshift seat cushion, towel in lumbar area, sitting on towel, seat angled every degree possible, seat pulled forward and backward. I will try some skinnier foam in the concave area of the back...maybe buy a cheap seat cushion to hold it in place. But I don't want to replace the seat or buy expensive cushions. If the car isn't good, it isn't good. Best to get rid of it. I'm so sad. I work so hard and paid good money for my new car. I will have to take a loss of, how much? $2,000, if I'm lucky, maybe? I don't know what to do. I'll have to think about it. I don't want to tell my friends I made a stupid purchase, so I don't want to ask them.

Oh, well. It's only money, right? A person's health is far more important. So disappointed in Honda. (can you tell I'm depressed over this? Sorry for the downbeat post. I'm normally an upbeat, happy person. I'll get over it.)

 

sorry to hear about your seat issue. If I were you, I would ask for a second opinion from your physiotherapist? Get him or her to go to your FIT and observe your seating position while you sit on the driver seat... and go from there....

You have save $$ to purchase the FIT and you like the car.. so may not hurt to have the last kick of the can in asking for a medical professional opinion??

 

Since no one has mentioned this - you did adjust the steering wheel for tilt and telescope right?

Just checking. I can't imagine differences in build being that great as to cause someone to have their knees up close just to reach the steering wheel, unless it was not adjusted.

Also losing the headrest is a big no no. It will screw up your neck big time.