In my 27.5 years of car ownership, I've owned two Toyota Tercels and my current Honda Fit -- all manual transmission (MT). I've owned my 2013 Honda Fit (Canada) for 6 years, and I find that the way the clutch pedal swings downward close to the floor requires one to unhinge one's ankle, sort of pointing one's toes, in order to fully depress the pedal. At the same time, I need to contract muscles in the butt and lower back to ensure the leg is delivering the force downward.

When I first drove the Fit, I found that this unfamiliar motion quickly caused some knee pain. I've since found ways to mitigate it by ensuring that my leg is positioned slightly to the outside, and the foot angled inward a bit when pressing the pedal. But it still causes problems that I further mitigate with cold compresses every night.

I suspect that the main source of my problem is that unhinging of the left ankle so that I'm tippy-toe-ing the pedal (or rather, using the ball of the foot), while extending my leg *and* using butt and lower back muscles to maintain downward pressure is an exacerbating factor. It's a rather awkward move. Perhaps the amount of attention given to the design of the clutch pedal was limited because of the limited market size? MT has become quite rare in North America.

My left leg is my good leg, and I keep reasonably fit with low impact strength exercises. I don't normally consider that limb to be predisposed to this kind of problem.

I'm wondering how systematic the problem is. Am I an oddball in finding this problematic, or is it more widespread? I'm not sure how easy it is to get an idea of this from responses, given the miniscule portion of the market that is MT.

As well, I suspect that it is unrealistic to have the pedal modified? It would be changing a key part of the design, and I wouldn't really know how to spec out a better design. It seems like changing cars would be more feasible.

 

Are you below average height?
Above average height?
Taller torso with shorter legs?

 

Have you tried moving the seat forward, making sure that your knee is slightly bent when the pedal is fully depressed?

 

@GolNat: Ilm about 5'3". I've never gotten any indication that I have a non-average
split between torso & legs.

@hotkey: Yes. Over the past 6 years, I've optimized the heck out of the front-back positioning and the seat back tilt. Knees aways bent. I'm positioned quite forward, is what I hear from others, Any more and my knees bang against the (admittedly bulky) underside of the dash. The seat pan height and tilt are fixed, which is unfortunate, considering that the cushioning toward the front of the seat seems plusher than the bum area. I suspect that these missing degrees of freedom might have enabled better adjustments, allowing for greater alleviation of the problem.

 

Id installed the 2000 civic clutch master with no delay valve, Id put an inch additional rubber footing behind the clutch pedal. Makes engagement earlier from depress and lessens the effort to push the pedal all the way down, had to double check the new height if at full depress it doesnt slide the clutch yet. means you need to reduce the footing if hieght is too high

 

How realistic would it be for someone who doesn't work with cars to be able to get a mechanic (say, at Honda) to modify the pedal? I don't want to go down that path if it's tricky to get the modification right without personal iterative experimentation.

 

If you can source the 2000 civic clutch master,, and you have the wrench and screwdrivers to remove the battery and air filter,, you could actually see and remove a clutch master,, would need to just really be detemined and patient reaching parts and bending your back to finish the entire operation. Didnt have the tools and doesnt want to get bothered doing all those stuff so i had a mechanic done it for me

 

I highly doubt a dealer will do anything like that. Better off using a mom and pop shop or a friend. I don't think installing a 2000 Honda cylinder will make that great a difference. The Fit clutch is already a feather.

I thought I have read about removing the spring attached to the clutch pedal and replacing it with a lower tension one?

If the clutch is fully engaged at the top of its travel then a stopper could be used so you don't have to press it all the way to the floor.

 

Sometimes it seems to me that the first and second gears engage at a lower point towards to the floor than the 4th and 5th. My 2000 Civic hatchback actually engaged at a higher point than my Fit though. Still I would prefer a lower engagement point as well, even though it doesn't cause me any leg problems.

 

I've rented in highrises all my life, so any mechanical competency that I might have had in my younger years is now gone. One is not allowed to work on one's car in the parking lot or garage. I'll inquire at the local Honda dealer/mechanic. If they say no, I'll have to find time to visit a local mechanic....Thanks.

 

There are 2 self proclaimed Honda "specialists" here in DFW. Both said they don't do aftermarket/modding, and one even gave me s*** for inquiring about pricing for a hella horn install.

Apparently, it's difficult to find a mechanic who trusts their abilities to do anything but read an instruction manual.

 

With the civic clutch master downgrade,, bite is instant and i dont slip clutch going second gear and the rest,, after first gear i just dump the clutch after selecting the next gears so i cant describe if clutch bite point are different in each gear haha