One thing negative about our seats is imo a lack of lumbar support (lower back). I don't like being slouched. I been searching for lumbar pillows for our bucket seat. Anyone have one that works well and fits the seat well and also stays in place. Whatever the case, any suggestions. Thanks
seat lumbar support suggestions
1 - 20 of 38 Posts
so the GT's have the air pump thing that can be inflated or is it simply just better rigid support than the touring and other models?
Which trim level do you have?
I found the seats in the lower trim levels lacking lumbar support, but my iGT is adequate since it has adjustable lumbar. Even so the car has a 3 hour seat time max.
The GTs have a bar with a lever on the end of it in the lumbar area that moves behind a pad, not an inflate thing.
Ralph
I have the 2017 2.5 touring and yes I just discovered the bar you mention. Ive seen the bar before as I tend to always familiarize myself fairly quicky with any new car I get. Kind of embarrassing really but even seeing the bar I thought it was the same bar I was blindly grabbing as I was seated to electrically recline my seat. I didn't put 2 and 2 together that this bar was separate and too high up to be the one I was grabbing to recline my seat. Dah!
so yes (and thanks) I do have the lumbar lever. It does feel a tad better but honestly even though I now know we have this it doesn't do all too much. Ive pushed the lever all the way it can go and you can feel it but its minimal vs a pump style blow up that other cars have. I think I still need an extra pad in addition. There are a number of them on amazon. Think ill be ordering one. Just don't know which. I want it to fit within the bucket seat of course without being to large in all directions.
I installed an adjustable blow up type lumbar support inside the seat (open up the back of the seat cover by unclipping where the backrest cover meets the underside of the cushion cover). You can get either manual or power type. I ordered the manual one. Once set it keeps its position without having to pump it up occasionally.
Manual Pneumatic Lumbar Support Pack - Seat Frames - Frames - Conversion Center
Manual Pneumatic Lumbar Support Pack - Seat Frames - Frames - Conversion Center
I've a couple little lumbar pads. Don't remember where I got either one of them.
I do remember getting some that just didn't work or weren't easily placed.
I friend of mine has a Subaru. I remember thinking that I wouldn't want to ride very long in that passenger seat.
Ralph
I do remember getting some that just didn't work or weren't easily placed.
I friend of mine has a Subaru. I remember thinking that I wouldn't want to ride very long in that passenger seat.
Ralph
Joined
·
13 Posts
I've had my car for a year and a half and had no idea I could adjust the lumbar support. Thanks for enlightening me!
That's one of the few complaints I have about mine. I do a lot of 10+ hour journeys, and my previous HHR's base model seats weren't at all good, so I bought some power seats out of a higher model, but even with the lumbar adjust at minimum, they were a lot more supportive. After 3 of these 1200 mile round trips in the 3, I'm thinking I need to add some support, it hasn't been terrible, I've found a reasonably comfortable position, though it's far more reclined than the optimum position I was used to in the much taller HHR.
This is what I use. It's the best:
https://www.tempurpedic.com/other-products/lumbar-support-cushion-travel/
Can also be had at Amazon.
The lack of a power (vs. manual) lumbar support in the Mazda 3 is disappointing. Mazda 6 GT has 8-way power-adjustable driver's seat with power lumbar adjustment and memory settings.
Disappointingly not in Mazda 3. I guess Mazda thinks drivers of these vehicles don't have back problems.
https://www.tempurpedic.com/other-products/lumbar-support-cushion-travel/
Can also be had at Amazon.
The lack of a power (vs. manual) lumbar support in the Mazda 3 is disappointing. Mazda 6 GT has 8-way power-adjustable driver's seat with power lumbar adjustment and memory settings.
Disappointingly not in Mazda 3. I guess Mazda thinks drivers of these vehicles don't have back problems.
Joined
·
327 Posts
I too am finding a tough time getting 100% comfortable in the seat for longer durations. Not sure if it's that the cushioning isn't broken in yet (if that's a thing), that I'm a bigger guy @ 245 lbs, or if it's residual back issue from my car accident in Oct that wrote off my last 3 (rear ended pretty damn good on the hwy). That was a 2010 GT with no adjustable lumbar support, but had memory seat which was amazing, and I could go for hrs in that thing.
I find myself fiddling with the seat here and there still after a little over 3 months and 11,000 kms - it's my only real issue with the car.
Hasn't been bad enough that I've wanted to buy a support or anything but if there's something that works, especially one that will go inside the seat, i may be interested in getting it installed.
Unfortunately there's no memory seat like my 10 had, so as soon as I think I get it damn close to just right and I need to fold the rear seat down I have to move my seat position because the back seat won't fold flat with where I had it set and it takes me forever to get it back close to where it was.
I find myself fiddling with the seat here and there still after a little over 3 months and 11,000 kms - it's my only real issue with the car.
Hasn't been bad enough that I've wanted to buy a support or anything but if there's something that works, especially one that will go inside the seat, i may be interested in getting it installed.
Unfortunately there's no memory seat like my 10 had, so as soon as I think I get it damn close to just right and I need to fold the rear seat down I have to move my seat position because the back seat won't fold flat with where I had it set and it takes me forever to get it back close to where it was.
Joined
·
327 Posts
Agreed. After spending 14 hrs in the car this weekend and another couple of hrs in traffic today I sat in my wife's Kia tonight for a quick jaunt. Although it has no side bolstering at all, the lumbar support (also electric) is much more substantial / tunable.
I've pretty much decided I want/have to try something. A pillow won't cut it for me, I want it to look factory and want it built into the seat.
Does anyone have any experience with something like one of these, or similar?
Car, Truck and SUV Lumbar Support System by Rostra
The only concern I have is how much is involved in opening up the seat back and squeezing the bladder in there.
Interesting find. I wonder what supports the bubble from behind? Why wouldn't it just expand towards the rear of the seat instead of towards your back? Is it sitting in there with something hard actually behind it so that when it expands it only does so towards your back?
Joined
·
10 Posts
Crazy, I was just thinking about this. All my previous vehicles had superb lumbar support and the 3i touring is definitely lacking. I wouldn't describe myself as having back problems, but long trips still make for a stiff lower back.
Amazon sells quite a few high-rated cushions for about $25, so I will give one of those a shot and report back next week after my road trip!
Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk
Amazon sells quite a few high-rated cushions for about $25, so I will give one of those a shot and report back next week after my road trip!
Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk
just have be careful with any strap-arounds because our seat has side airbag.
Joined
·
327 Posts
There's a plastic board on the backside of the bladder that protects the bladder from getting pinched on the springs in the seat.
I've taken the plunge and ordered one of the Rostra power kits I linked to. Not cheap after $ conversion and shipping to Canada but if it helps it will be worth every penny with the amount of seat time I put in.
Joined
·
1,845 Posts
May I suggest another, probably much cheaper suggestion, and that is taking your car to a top rated upholstery shop? The good ones are masters at literally taking a piece of extra-firm seat foam, sculpting it in a precision manner, inserting and attaching it underneath your factor upholstery (whether it is vinyl, leatherette or leather), then re-installing the OEM covering.
I have a friend who had back pain, even on one hour trips. He took his Corvette into a local upholstery shop, had the above lumbar addition done for both his and his wife's seats for about $125 total, in about 1 1/2 hours, and they now take long trips without issue.
Here is how the process was done on a motorcycle seat, though this was "foam subtraction" not addition. Note please that there are many different grades and foam density options, though a good upholstery shop will probably already have, and if not can get you what is needed for your lumbar support.
https://youtu.be/8_Wc7c_CW2o
One additional note, is that each of us are build different, have different amounts of "fleshiness" or lack there of (duh), and my daughter and her husband take long trips in their 2016 Mazda 3 and love their OEM seats, do not want anything changed.
I have a friend who had back pain, even on one hour trips. He took his Corvette into a local upholstery shop, had the above lumbar addition done for both his and his wife's seats for about $125 total, in about 1 1/2 hours, and they now take long trips without issue.
Here is how the process was done on a motorcycle seat, though this was "foam subtraction" not addition. Note please that there are many different grades and foam density options, though a good upholstery shop will probably already have, and if not can get you what is needed for your lumbar support.
https://youtu.be/8_Wc7c_CW2o
One additional note, is that each of us are build different, have different amounts of "fleshiness" or lack there of (duh), and my daughter and her husband take long trips in their 2016 Mazda 3 and love their OEM seats, do not want anything changed.
some good ideas here.
I have another similar related seat issue that is also beginning to annoy me.
And so I often try to sit straighter upright (hence the need for better lumber support) but I am finding the darn headrest doesn't allow our/my head to roll back enough to keep an upright neck and head which also helps the back issue. in other words a better imo sitting posture from the lkower back and on up through the neck/head.
I feel the headrest has too much of a forward lean to it. Why do they think our heads are somehow attached 6 inches in front of our torso? And do they think we are "C" shaped from our butts all the way to our heads? I mean you put your lower back to the seat and have little to no lumbar support and then your upper back against the seat and yet the headrest (unless you have a smaller head) prevents a nice upright neck/head position. So its like you have to "C" shaped from top to bottom. Its just a bad poorly thought out design and is not good for our bodies to sit in such a fashion. I mean if your not hunched backed we just may be after a 100thousand miles or so..lol.
Its just forward enough to almost push my head down a tad but i find it annoying as heck. Yesterday I actually got so annoyed I removed it and turned it around. Of course its now not there close enough now when you do want it but I have to say it was soooooo much more darn comfy that I now could hold my neck/head nice and upright without the headrest preventing me from doing so.
I have another similar related seat issue that is also beginning to annoy me.
And so I often try to sit straighter upright (hence the need for better lumber support) but I am finding the darn headrest doesn't allow our/my head to roll back enough to keep an upright neck and head which also helps the back issue. in other words a better imo sitting posture from the lkower back and on up through the neck/head.
I feel the headrest has too much of a forward lean to it. Why do they think our heads are somehow attached 6 inches in front of our torso? And do they think we are "C" shaped from our butts all the way to our heads? I mean you put your lower back to the seat and have little to no lumbar support and then your upper back against the seat and yet the headrest (unless you have a smaller head) prevents a nice upright neck/head position. So its like you have to "C" shaped from top to bottom. Its just a bad poorly thought out design and is not good for our bodies to sit in such a fashion. I mean if your not hunched backed we just may be after a 100thousand miles or so..lol.
Its just forward enough to almost push my head down a tad but i find it annoying as heck. Yesterday I actually got so annoyed I removed it and turned it around. Of course its now not there close enough now when you do want it but I have to say it was soooooo much more darn comfy that I now could hold my neck/head nice and upright without the headrest preventing me from doing so.
1 - 20 of 38 Posts
