I've always had problems getting my seat on my past cars adjusted right so my back doesn't hurt driving for long periods of time, but I still can't get it right with the H3. After I'm in it for over an hour, my lower back starts to get sore. I have the lumbar support pushed out all the way, and still it happens.

I'm not sure if sitting closer to the wheel will help, or farther away. I'm 6'0 and since I'm shifting all the time, I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it, where either my legs aren't stretched out enough, or they are too much. I can't sit TOO far away from the wheel or else I won't be able to reach it. If I sit too close, my legs don't have room to stretch. If I recline the seat more, I can't reach it very well either.

Does anybody else have this problem? This is the only car I have owned where I just couldn't get it right. It's starting to get to me.

Iwas thinking about buying a back cushion for my lower back and see if that fixes it, but I'm not sure if that will.

 

That's a bummer. I have a bit of a bad back, and usually sitting in a chair for extended periods gives me (back) stiffness, but in the H3, I drove it back from the dealer non-stop which was a 5.5 hour drive and NO problems. I'm shorter at 5'5", and can say that I find the seats very comfy. My GF really likes them as well. In my Ford 4x4, I added one of those back supports that is a plastic mesh that is stretched over asteel wire frams (sorta like a little trampoline) and that helped there, but then those are bench seats.I have tried the additional lumbar supports, and not really found them useful, but I think that everyone is different, so you need to try things until it works.

My friend had a similar problem to you in his Toyota truck, and what he did was take out the drivers seat, and inserted a 1/2" steel washer between the seat and the body, raising the whole thing up. He swears that that 1/2 in increase changed the seat stance enough that it solved his sore back issue when driving.

Good Luck

 

So he put the washers between the seat rails and the floorboards? I wonder if that would decrease the stability of the seat. I was thinking of getting one of those gel back pads or something like that. Since I don't have power seats, I can't raise and lower the seat, but that's not a bad idea.

SugarDaddy: What do you think?

 

i found i had similar problems with mine but when i cranked my tortion bars up to level the ride i found it alot more comfy also tilt the front of your seat up a hair more to give your legs a bit more support also i find that farther from the steering wheel is better because your legs have more room to relax and if none of that works get your wife or girlfriend to mesage you while you drive you will forget about your back pain

 

lol so what you're saying is my back wouldn't be what's, oh nevermind...

I'll try that. I'm just not sure if reclining the seat back more or putting it more in the upward position is better for this kind of problem. I sure as hell don't want the seat reclined so much to be laying in the back seat all tHuG about it (no offense to anybody on here )

 

I'm 6'2", have a couple of herniated discsand can't get as comfortable as I would like in the H3, but have found that I tend to slouch and bring on the back pain because of poor posture. The longest we've driven so far is about 5 hours and I noticed that if I concentrate on keepingmy back arched properly, I have very little pain. I do use the cruise control quite a bit and try tochange my leg position a lot too. We have the leather seatsthat are heated and with the lumbar all the way outand a little bit of heat occasionally, itreally seems to help things.

 

Thanks for the info. I also noticed that I tend to slouch also when driving it. I'm trying to kick that habbit, but at least you are in the same boat as me unfortunately. Have you tried any additional pads or anything like that?

 

No, nothing other than the stock lumbar support. I have the same issue when riding my motorcycle...poor posture lends itself to a lot of aches and pains, so I try to focus on that.

 

Yes. what we actually used was from an old engine CAM shaft. We used a metal band saw to slice of 4 pieces off of the journals, and then drilled a hole through the centre. When we bolted the seat back down, it was every bit as stable. You said that you have the non-power seats, I have the power heated ones. The heat definitely help the ol' back out, and having the other adjustments really helps as well. Maybe you could luck out and find a deal on adding a power seat to the drivers side!!

 

I think I figured it out this morning. Since have a stick, I'm constantly shifting and I noticed that when I extend my leg to shift, my left hip moves down and my right moves up, so I'm figuring that's causing my back to twist up all the time. What I did was raise the wheel up as high as it goes, and pushed my seat up as far as I could go without my knees hitting the steering wheel. Now when I step on the clutch pedal, my hips don't twist anymore. I did that for just 20 minutes this morning on the way to work after my back started to hurt and it seems like the pain started going away. By the time I got to work, I wasn't feeling that twisting feeling anymore. I'm going to try to find a heated back pad and hardwire it into my power so I can turn it on and off with a switch, and hopefully that and re-adjusting the seat will solve the problem.

Does the luxury package have a steering column that pulls closer towards you? I really need that. I wonder if I can have that swapped out.