I found the seats to be firm but comfortable. Way better than the '09 the mother-in-law has when it was new, they seems to be breaking in all right in her car though. Our '13 wasn't bad out of the lot, either. I haven't had an issue with back pain while driving, but I do get stiff tailbone from sitting too long. Maybe I've got a monkey tail I don't know about. I'm glad to hear you got a comfortable setting made.

 

my back too was in agony after longer drive on my 2008 fit. i used a sacra ease seat and wedge cushion and this eliminated the pain. i did not need the lumbar supplemental cushion on the sacra ease seat. the flat back of the sacra ease alone provided the lumbar support. The wedge cushion helped elevate my bottom. its too bad that the seats have not improved after all the complaints. The new 2015 seats look similar to 08. concave lower back showing lack of lumbar support and steep angle knee to hip. the wedge cushion was a simple foam but helped so much. cant recall where i got that. may be memory foam but not sure. a couple of links to the wedge foam or saca ease are below. hope this helps.

https://www.google.com/search?q=seat...12%3B960%3B960

https://www.google.com/search?q=sacr...9Y%3B425%3B349

 

also i use both the foam wedge and sacra ease at the same time. the foam wedge goes under the sacra ease. if it were not for using these i could not have kept the car which otherwise i love.

 

Fight15, this was also my experience. It wasn't the route of the test drive. The ride itself was fine, over bumps, etc. At the time the discomfort wasn't felt...and like you I never had to consider longer times would reveal the seat defect. I get confused as some members remarking on earlier models talk about a lumbar lump. Like yourself, the 2015 seems to have NO lumbar support...Good luck on finding a solution. I am still looking. - Jellybean

 

Fight15,
After driving 45 minutes which is not the usual length of a test drive,
I too was really discouraged that my back was killing me. I may have a useful suggestion for you. I posted pictures on the Fit Facebook page. Unzip the back of the seat. (now that was a useful Fit feature) then behind the spring, pad the lumbar area with hand towels. That and raising the front with 3 washers made life a lot more bearable. I have an appointment with a local car upholster to do it more professionally, filling in the lumbar area with high density foam. While I was told, there is a limitation to what they can do, I want to see if they can add just a bit to the bottom of the seat as well. Only charging $75. I have spent that much on all sorts of cushions already! Oye, when all along I could have used cheap hand towels. I will report back with the results.

 

Hmmmm, I may have to give the hand towel thing a try if it really does help. Does it leave unsightly bulges anywhere in the seat?

 

I tried the hand towel thing too I used a thin back support and bolstered it with hand towels. It brought the seat from horribly uncomfortable to just uncomfortable. I also had a meeting with a regional factory rep and the service manager at the dealership where I bought the car. The factory rep agreed to replace the seat with another FIT seat to see if that would solve the problem but the dealership never followed through, and to be honest I didn't think it would have helped. After driving the car for 3 months I realized that not only was it uncomfortable but it got pretty mediocre gas millage too. It did ok on the highway but in mixed driving I never got over 30 MPG, usually around 26 or 27 MPG. So I thought why drive a car that is really uncomfortable even with modifications and also gets average gas millage. So I found a perfect solution, well not perfect it cost me about $2,000, I traded it in for a very slightly used 2014 Prius. The Prius is reasonably comfortable and it gets about double the MPG as the FIT and it has more cargo space. I regret ever having bought the FIT and of course do not recommend it. The FIT is overrated and utterly fails the driving comfort test and is not very economical.

 

Hi I'm in the UK and I have had my Jazz/Fit (1.4 EX-CVT) for 4 weeks, it had Dunlop tyres fitted but I changed them to Michelin Energy Saver 185-55-16 and the difference was noticed straight away, the way the car reacted to the Michelins was great, smoother cornering, less roll, but the best thing is that they give a much smoother ride. another plus is that they get top marks, in the UK, for stopping distance in the wet.
In the UK they cost about £100.00 each (about $155.) including tax and fitting

 

That's an unfortunate experience for you. Good luck with your Prius, the vast majority of Prius owners are very happy with their purchase. I used to own a Lexus (i.e. Toyota) HS250h hybrid and loved it. Depending how you drive a hybrid, you will easily be able to improve on it's EPA rating.

 

I'll go into detail as to what my wife and I thought of the '15 Fit seats at the very end of this post. Basically, there appeared to be *NO* lumbar support.

But first, the legal bits..

DISCLAIMER - If you modify an automotive product, you do so AT YOUR OWN RISK. If you have doubts about the following procedures - SIMPLY DO NOT ATTEMPT THEM.

OK, now on to the useful stuff..

The following YouTube vid. (contributed elsewhere on a similar topic, but I couldn't find the post to give proper credit) shows how to lift away the back of the driver seat's leather cover. It works exactly as advertised. Just be gentle while investigating the first few times (i.e., don't tear anything) until you get the hang of it. You will likely be doing this several times. Note that the producer of this vid. wants to *remove* lumbar support - I wanted to add some in.


Looking into the construction of the driver's seat of my recently purchased '15 U.S. market Fit revealed a "simpler" design from that of its U.K. cousin. Basically, there are a couple of classic "sofa-cushion" style steel support springs mounted horizontally across the seat frame sides, which supports the section of the seatback at the lower half of your spine.

In my case, I used a thickish (~1/8") piece of stiff plastic (an unused iPad Air backing/cover), and slid it behind the two springs. I then inserted the equivalent of a rolled towel (also as discussed elsewhere): a ~1-3/4" square section piece of medium-density packing foam (this stuff was used to protect a chrome kitchen faucet when shipped) and stuffed it between the plastic sheet and the leather at the face of the seat. Be careful not to tear the very thin, almost wispy, white fabric material used throughout. It helps to push the leather forwards with your hand, and then insert the foam. You need to push, pull and wiggle the set of pieces into position.

It took a few (4 IIRC) drives and re-positioning of the foam section to get it right. Your ideal dimensions will likely vary, but the flexibility offered by this simple (cheap?) seatback construction means you can vary the position of the foam to accommodate your lumbar needs. Here's how my final setup looked:




For me, the seat has gone from crippling (I am not joking) to comfortable.
I think I was very lucky in the dimensions of my plastic shield and foam - they seem exactly right.

My plan is to measure out the plastic "shield", and fabricate a metal version of similar dimensions, drill some holes and attach a few hog-clips between it and the springs to lock it securely in place. The current plastic scares me: in a v. serious collision the plastic could snap into a knife blade, inches from several of my vital organs.

- Cons: not moveable once installed.

- Pros: no unsightly cushions; cheap fix.

- Hints: I was able to keep the rear leather cover out of the way by wedging one end of the plastic "rail clip" at the bottom of the cover under the headrest (..pushing it all the way downward..) to keep the cover "lifted" while inserting my plastic shield + foam lumbar support behind the springs.


As promised - our first impression of the seats, follows.

I had severe back pain within about 20 mins of driving the car. The fact that we did not insist on a longer test drive was stupid in retrospect. The pain was debilitating - my lower back ached and was as stiff as it has ever been. These were without a doubt the most uncomfortable car seats I have ever experienced. And, my wife's opinion matched mine exactly.

After a few rides, she was almost in tears as she announced that buying this car was the biggest mistake we may have ever made, and after 27 years of marriage, we've had some doozies.

Generally, I require *some* lumbar support, and she requires more. I have had a "bad" back since my teens; my wife had back surgery about 3 years ago. Very few seats are painful for both of us - these were.

The above may have "saved" this car for us. I hope it can help others that may be at their wits' end.

 

Thanks for the tip. This is a very interesting post. It's a shame that these seats can be so uncomfortable on long trips.

 

Since this seems to be an on going issues with the Fits, has anyone (from any of the Honda forums) come across a thread where the Fit seats were retro fitted with some other seats? Like Civic seats?

 

I have the same question, as I find the stock seat bordering on debilitating. I have never had sciatica or low back pain and I am in immense pain after 30 minutes or so. I have tried the washer fix. The only partial solution, which isn't really a solution, is a pillow and multiple folded towels. This makes driving up to an hour tolerable, but still uncomfortable.

No way I can take my brand new fit (~250 miles) on an 8-hour road trip next week. I won't be able to walk afterwards. I am seriously considering trading the car for a loss it's so bad.

I know a couple folks did a Civic SI seat install into their Fit, but it wasn't for a 2015.'

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-...ds-sensor.html

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-...seats-ge8.html

 

Found these:
Aftermarket Corbeau Replacement Bucket Seats for Cars, Jeeps, Trucks, Vans, Street Racing and OffRoad

Any experience?

They make a bracket for different generation fits, and under their FAQ state that seats will fit based on measurements. Of course, I don't think any of these have seat air bags.

 

I know this is not helpful but I have no problem with the seats at all, actually my first and continuing impression is that these are just right. I am 54 years old, 6' tall and fit at 160 pounds.

Seat ergonomics are a very personal thing. I am sorry for those of you who have problems with this issue and it is such an important one.

Still I have to wonder if it has to do with overall posture and health of your backs. Do any of you stretch and do yoga? I don't know if the issue could be related to overall back health, but it could be.

The post above is sure one way to add more lumbar support, well done - great post.

Honda could stand to read these posts and add adjustable lumbar support.

 

And add adjustable seat angle, similar to what was in the '01 Integra.

While an inch of washers helped me, I personally would be comfortable with a little more angle and adjust-ability is always nice.

 

I understand just what you mean! It only becomes very painful at ~30 min or so. I have multiple spine issues/need a Cadillac! My mom gifted this car to me, so I am grateful. Just need a great cushion (for back and seat). I was a Physical Therapist, and in my opinion, the problem is mostly that the seat is too firm. You wouldn't want to drive in a stadium seat, which is what these remind me of. Love that gas mileage, though!

*I got a cushion. Didn't alleviate the pain. DID make me tall enough.

 

Wout, you are right and very kind! Everyone is unique. And of course, already having pain and spine issues, almost all travel is tough. I need a Yogi!