uncomfortable car seats on Kia niro

Discussion in 'Kia Niro' started by Tr200, Jan 16, 2020.

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  1. niro525

    niro525 Member

    Today I finally got some back twinging. Unfortunately I did not note my feet and leg position, but I did remember some of everyone's advice.

    I wiggled and wedges my rear end as far back as I could go; paying attention to keep my spine straight. I maxed out the lumbar support and that didn't help, so I backed off on that. I pulled the seat forward and tilted the forward part of the seat up. That got my legs into a neutral position. Much better. That back pressure was relieved.


    I find it odd a seat position that served me well suddenly was uncomfortable. At least the car is engineered to have seat customization options to make me comfortable.
     
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  3. TheHellYouSay

    TheHellYouSay Member

    I found this thread to be quite interesting, all the variety in the ways we sit in a car. I didn't even test drive my Niro before I bought it, but I did sit in one. Over all the fancy gadgets and functionality, I valued the seat comfort because I intended to drive this car A LOT!

    What I found on my first *** plant was that the seat seemed stiff, but that the rolled edges forced me to sit up straighter and smack dab in the middle. The seat seemed to envelope me like a hammock and I liked it very much. Of course, a 5 minute sit and a 40 minute car ride are quite a different thing, so I was fearful that it would have uncomfortable seats, but after 7 months of driving I've never had discomfort. Or at least not for the first 90 minutes or so.

    I doubt that the structure is different, but I've got the lowly baseline model WITHOUT the power driver's seat. That too was a worry because ALL my Toyotas have that feature and I love the way you can dial things in. My wife is much shorter and whenever we swap cars, seats need to be adjusted and for me it's almost like second nature. I know just how far back I want to sit and how my arms should be hanging. The seats operate like those in VW in that as you adjust your seat height up, the front lip advances upward more so that it sort of forces your butt to stay down. Once the distance and height are right, I recline, hardly ever do I sit straight up and down. I can tell from where my wife has the seat that my setup may be unorthodox. On longer dirves, I tend to move into a more upright position to help ward off lower back pain.

    One thing I really like on my '05 Tundra seats are the armrests. I know they would probably look stupid in a small crossover style car, but on long drives, it is so nice to rest your arm and hold the wheel steady. The Niro can almost work that way with the console so far forward, but not quite the same.

    Yeah, I've a love/hate relationship with the foot rest too. Most rigs seem to have them at different positions in relation to the gas pedal. I mostly drive with my left foot flat on the floor or else rolling aimlessly as I put it next to the useless foot rest. The one time that a foot rest comes in handy is when you've driving for hours and you think you're legs are turning to jelly, I use it for crunching exercises, sort of like stretching.
     
  4. Interestingly, the lumbar support seems to make it WORSE for me at most settings . I have also wondered (worried) if my premium seats with the ventilation and such were a different stiffness than the EX seats, especially since I have put in serious drivers seat butt time in other Kias (Soul, Optima) and never had this problem, but one of the other pained posters (don't recall if it was tr200 or plugitin) ) said they had the EX.

    there may be something to the spine thing. I feel like I am using muscular support more when I sit in the Niro for some unknown reason as opposed to other cars where I slouch and relax. The unusual left foot position seems to unload it. If my observation is accurate, maybe the combination of loading the back muscles and not being absolutely symmetrical is what is causing the problem for me. Still unsure.
     
  5. Andrew Le

    Andrew Le New Member

    I find my Niro EV EX driver back seat is too firm, around the back shoulder area... I wish it was softer.. In my old Nissan LEAF seat, I didnt notice anything when I sat in it (that's a good sign), so now I miss those seats, compared to my Niro EV. I've made adjustments of tilting the seats and moving seat back and forward, but it just feels too firm on my back...
     
  6. Bruce Southern

    Bruce Southern New Member

    One word OBUSFORM - Google it!
     
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  8. Paul-ATL

    Paul-ATL New Member

  9. Bruce Southern

    Bruce Southern New Member

    Paul-ATL likes this.
  10. Strange, I like the seats, at least the drivers, and it's very adjustable. I don't use much lumbar, and I am 6' 2".

    Greg
     
  11. The problem seems to have resolved for me. I wonder if I was sitting with back tensed up for some reason. I am driving less now, but have taken some 1+ hour drives with no discomfort, whereas in the early months that would definitely consistently create some.
     
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  13. JasonG

    JasonG Member

    Obviously everyone is different but I had some back issues initially but after trying different seat adjustments and raising the front of the seat it seems very comfortable now... This is for trips up to 1.5 hours. Haven't done more than that. It seems others have mentioned that raising the front of the seat helps.
     
  14. Deevee8

    Deevee8 New Member

    I found this also. Ended up buying a custom cut wedge made of foam. That seemed to do the trick for me.
     
  15. I drove 4-5 hours in one go last week. No back problem. I think I must have been sitting tensely when I first got the car.
     

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