[matkatmusic]

Hey Folks. It's been a while since i've posted (or visited). Anyway, today I took my car to the dealer for an oil change and I mentioned to them that the drivers seat feels like something is poking me behind and just under my left shoulder blade. So they brought around another 2016 to compare against and said that my seats were much harder than the 2016 they compared it to. To clarify, my car is a 2016 that was manufactured in the middle of 2015. So, they called "tech line" to check the status about the chairs, and "tech line" is advising them to open up the seat and see if anything is broken or whatever before they'll provide part numbers or warranty repair. The service guys said that there was something wrong with the seat, as the car doesn't even have 10,000 miles on it and it was noticeably harder than the other seats in the car. From what I can tell, i'm getting a seam shoved into my left shoulder blade. I've marked it on this picture of a 2017 leather seat on the right side, but the location of the seam is the same on the 2016 seat, just on the left side.

I'm not a big guy, i'm 5' 11" and weigh 165lb. The car has been in my possession since mile #12 , beginning near the end of November 2015, so it's not an old car, and I've been the only driver other than one or two other test drivers.

I guess what I'm hoping to achieve by this post is to 1) find out if anyone else has ever had this issue. 2) how did they get it resolved? 3) are the cloth seats known for this?

near the end of August my wife and I will be relocating to Los Angeles from NYC, so driving across the country with that uncomfortable seat won't be any fun. It was already not fun driving one hour from queens to brooklyn (22 miles) coming home from the dealership, so I can't imagine spending 6+ hour days in that thing. The passenger seat is much more comfortable, for what it's worth.

 

[katho]

No issues with the seats here, as new on my 2015 after 16000 miles. Something must have happened inside your seat.

 

[GerryB]

Same here. Seats are as comfortable as the day they were new.

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[matkatmusic]

Thanks for the feedback, folks. If there are any folks with new(er) mazda 3's in the Brooklyn/Queens area, I'd really like to link up and compare as the dealership didn't have any 2016s with cloth seats for me to compare against. They only had 2017's. The service department just had the one 2016 with a damaged door to compare against. Send me a PM if you're down to help me troubleshoot this seat? Right now i'm supposed to bring the car back in the beginning of July for them to open the seat, see if anything is broken and THEN order parts for the repair, if anything needs repairing. They want me to plan on leaving the car with them, which is always fun :-/

 

[kas]

My '14 has a click in the lower half of the seat when turning. It feels like a slight flick in the back. Will be bringing it in next week.

 

[GerryB]

When you drive cross country, let your wife drive so you get the more comfortable passenger seat lol.

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[M3MX5M3]

I haven't noticed anything in the shoulder area of my seat, but I've felt a mechanism or spring within the lower part of the seat on a few occasions. Ill check out my seat more thoroughly in case my shoulder is lower and it just hits me in a different spot. If you are taking a long road trip just take a few cotton balls and a piece of painters tape and cover that spot so it doesn't dig into your arm. That's what I would do until I got it fully figured out.

 

[matkatmusic]

So a quick update, I'll be dropping it off next Thursday and they're gonna take the seat apart and see what's wrong with it. I had a couple people sit in the seat and they confirmed that something doesn't feel right. The dealership said it would be covered by the warranty, so that's cool.

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[kas]

So a quick update, I'll be dropping it off next Thursday and they're gonna take the seat apart and see what's wrong with it. I had a couple people sit in the seat and they confirmed that something doesn't feel right. The dealership said it would be covered by the warranty, so that's cool.

Sent from my LG-H631 using Tapatalk

I haven't noticed anything in the shoulder area of my seat, but I've felt a mechanism or spring within the lower part of the seat on a few occasions. Ill check out my seat more thoroughly in case my shoulder is lower and it just hits me in a different spot. If you are taking a long road trip just take a few cotton balls and a piece of painters tape and cover that spot so it doesn't dig into your arm. That's what I would do until I got it fully figured out.

My dealer replaced the recliner inside the driver's seat. Seems to have solved the noise.

 

[matkatmusic]

quick update for me as well. Got the car back. the report says:

"tech confirmed concern. tech found driver side left upper pad is hard, as opposed to right side is soft. "

So, they replaced the seat foam, or part of it. it just says "BJS8-88-182 PAD(L), BACK-FRT" for the part that was replaced. I have no idea how large that pad is, or how many pads are in the seat itself.

it definitely felt better driving it home from the dealer today. Any idea what would cause it? The car usually sits monday-friday and doesn't get driven until the weekend. Could sitting in the NYC sun/humidity all week long cause the foam to degrade like it did? I still felt that some foam in the left lumbar area wasn't as soft as the right side, but I'll have to sit in it again and pay closer attention.

 

[SCUDDOG]

Reviving this ancient thread - I do long drives in my 3... just did 1500+ miles in 4 days for work. 2018 2.5 GT Manual with the black/brown leatherette seats. The seats are BRUTAL during a long trip. It seems to be getting worse. I take breaks and adjust the seat 9 ways to Sunday. Short drives are tolerable. I think that I should have done more research on this car first. The gas mileage for the trip I just did averaged 39.4 MPG. It is phenomenal. I'm a big guy... 6'2", 210 lbs.

Has anyone else had a similar complaint about the seat comfort over long trips? It is to the point that I'm considering selling the car. Anyway, curious as to what other people have done and experienced.

 

[SCUDDOG]

Update - I have discovered that the issue is that my seats are too narrow for my rear end. The side bottom bolsters seem to press against the hips after about 5 hours in the seat. It is painful and I have to sort of sit gangster style sideways to relieve the pressure. 510 miles yesterday ~ 10 hours in the car @ 39.6 MPG which was awesome... but the seats... I'm just too big for this wonderful economic car.

 

[MeteorGray]

That's too bad. I wonder if you could find an upholsterer who could make a modification to the seat to make it fit you better.

 

[gregersonke]

Damn, I had no idea I could replace the pads. Anyone have the part numbers for them, a few of mine are in desire of being replaced.

 

[SCUDDOG]

My days of extended driving from Key West to Jacksonville and back again are going to end in August... I'll just deal with it until then.