A friend just bought a 2020 EX, but her right knee hurts so much after driving for a "distance" that she is considering selling it. It's okay around town, but if she drives for forty minutes or more, her knee hurts a lot. Using cruise control helps a bit, but that can't be constant. She has tried all possible seat adjustments and different pillows, but nothing helps. Looking online, she found lots of similar complaints.

Any ideas? If your knee is fine, great! So is mine, and you don't have to tell us.

 

This sounds really strange. Most people would discover an uncomfortable driving position on a test drive.

Either she's running into a non-ergonomic situation where she can't get comfortable (accelerator pedal too close/far/left/right), or she has underlying knee pathology which is being unmasked by the driving position. One of the two.

If she can drive other vehicles without issue, I'm at bad ergonomics. Time to sell. No sense keeping a car that makes you miserable just driving it.

 

Earlier this year I developed a pain in my right knee when walking, going up and down stairs or driving. That's highway runs for about an hour since I live in the country. The pain has been getting worse and I recently had a cortisone shot in the knee which has helped but I know it will wear off. I can see the writing on the wall and I'm guessing that I'm heading for a knee replacement. I don't believe that driving any other car would make much difference although the Fit's cramped floor space doesn't help. My age of 70+ also doesn't help.

 

I have a second gen and could never see doing a long road trip in it. The seating position is just odd. It's fine for around town and my 30 min commute, but 6-7 hours or even more and I could see some discomfort appearing.

 

Your friend has a right knee problem.

 

I’ve had this pain and I’ve seen this happen with other drivers that drive non-Fit cars. It must be an ergonomic thing. I’ve boiled it down to a flare up in the Sural nerve branches in-and-below the knee. The solution for me was to adjust the seat all the way back and exercise.

 

The GK's driver seat = no lumbar support! Get something to support your lower back.

 

It is not a very comfortable car for long trips, especially if you're a taller driver. The Fit driving position very much reminds me of sitting in a hard wooden classroom chair. Very upright, knees at right angles. And yes, no tunable lumbar support really sucks on top of that.

My BMW is like driving in a personally crafted recliner. It's a wild difference.

You can get track extenders for the seats, but that only helps with the height issue, not really the seating position or angles you're forced into.

 

This Fit owner is also your age, but the Fit is the only car that hurts her knee. She's been driving a CR-V for 250,000 miles with no problems.

 

im also in excruciating pain and have tried everything. I would just sell the car if I didn't live in the city, but it has a bunch of cosmetic issues because of city driving. I might just take the L though, it's so bad

 

that's an odd one . i guess she's tried different height adjustments ? i had some trouble on long drives with my back in the Fit but discovered tilting the seat back a bit more gave me some better lumbar support . i got that tip on this forum .

 

I used to live on the south shore, a few miles south of you in East Rockaway, Nassau County

 

@SilverEX15 As my colleague @Chitown Fit said, it's the knee, not the car.

 

Don't do knee replacement and don't do cortisone shots. Try everything else first. Physical therapy is your friend. Orthopedists are not. Read the studies.

I've had fifty years of knee pain. I just got my tenth MRI on my right knee, and I'm going to see my orthopedist on Tuesday. Torn meniscus and osteoarthritis. Getting old sucks. I don't recommend it.

 

I had pain in my right knee when walking which turned into excruciating pain when driving the Fit on highway trips. I had a cortisone shot which pretty much completely eliminated the pain. Actually I'm on my third cortisone shot. They lasted 9 months, 9 months and the current is at 5 months. I'm 74. Somewhere in the future I'm going to need a knee replacement.

 

A friend just had her second knee replacement. She's in her 70s, and it turned out fine.

 

I like getting old so much that I have no plans to stop doing it.

 

I'll pass that along.

 

Maybe. The original post says the pain starts after driving for "forty minutes or more." I don't know how many people do 40-minute test drives. I never have.

I get uncomfortable (in all cars I have driven) after 3 hours and now plan to stop at intervals to stretch and walk around. It could be the economy hatchback cars I buy and drive, or it could just be a terminal case of the olds. Regardless, there's no easy way to replicate/test that during a typical test drive.

Conversely, when I was a kid my dad had a good relationship with a local used car dealer. If dad was interested in a car the dealer would let him drive and test it for a weekend or longer, and we would typically load up the family and go for a long Sunday drive to see how it worked. But, that was the rural Midwest 30 years ago and probably doesn't happen anymore.