Ford Focus - Seat replacement?

[Tanzo]

Hello,

Joined the forum as I'm looking for a little bit of advice if possible.

I've recently purchased a Ford Focus 2014 model in August 2017 and it drives great. The only issue I have is I've found over the course of the 2 months I've had it that the car seat has become very uncomfortable to the point I'm now suffering daily lower back pain if I drive for any more than 15 minutes. This is not ideal as it takes 30 mins each way to drive to and from work.

Therefore to cut a long story short  I'm beginning to wonder whether I should look into replacing the car seat. The ones one at present that came with the car are sort of sporty/bucket seat types which position your backside downwards and the knees up. I don't feel this is making me sit very well posture wise and also don't feel the back rest is supporting my back very well either.

I was just looking for some advice on how to go about this? I was thinking of either discussing my concerns with the dealer I bought the car from but wasn;t sure if they'd be too bothered and entertain me? has anyone had any experience of ironing issues of this sort with the dealers? I'm aware I'll probably incur the expense myself.

Failing that has anyone done it themselves? Was thinking if I went to a scrap yard or eBay and got the seats myself I could just fit them myself? Are car seats usually universal sizes or is every car/car seat different and would I need to measure a load of different stuff to match things up size wise?

Any advice people may be able to offer would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

[JW1982]

What is the mileage of the car? The Focus MK3/MK3.5 seats are known to wear pretty quick. The foam inside the seats often deteriorates or cracks which seriously affects the comfort of the seats. This can be solved by replacing the foam. All foam pieces are available as spare parts.

 

Seats are manufacturer/car model specific. Only Focus MK3/MK3.5 seats are a direct fit to your car. Seats from other manufacturers or even seats from different Ford models have different dimensions and mounting points. These will not fit without (sometimes major) modifications.

A Ford dealer usually does not sell seats. i suspect that a Ford dealer only wants to sell you a new original seat which will cost a fortune. 

 

There are basically 3 options:

1: Replacement of the driver seat for a custom seat (for example Recaro). These seats can be fully adapted to the clients wishes (usually not cheap).

2: Replacement of the complete interior for a different type of Focus MK3/MK3.5 interior (only applicable if you find an interior that meets your demands.

3: Remanufacturing of the current driver seat. There are companies that can remanufacture original seats and adapt it to the clients wishes. Custom made foam inserts can result in a completely different seat. A major advantage of this is that the seat still looks the same as before. This is a very popular modification for people driving sport cars who are actually a bit to big for a bucket seat. 

[Tanzo]

Hi thanks for the reply. Current mileage is just approaching 29k miles. 

Sounds like option 2 was along the same lines as what I was thinking either via eBay or visiting a scrap yard to find a similar car. Thanks for advising it’s an mk3 shape as I wasnt too sure on that to help ensure I don’t buy something that isn’t going to fit.

[madmole]

Have you tried changing the height of the seat, that drastically changes the angle. Higher = flatter

 

[Tanzo]

Yeah I've watched a fair few youtube vids over the last few weeks from physio's and chiropractors demonstrating how to set the seats properly, sadly nothings seemed to work for me. I've tried a few different seat adjustments and moving the steering wheel. I'm also unable to move the actual seat cushion itself neither to flatten it off which you can on my father's Renault Scenic.

It seems to me seat itself just has me at a funny angle from hips upto my knees and it's also tucking me in at the sides and tensing me up as I'm maybe a little wider than the seat wants me to be and thus my back isn't nice and flat resting properly as I sink back into the groove. I feel like a need a more flatter seatback and less angle on the seat cushion.

Last day or 2 I've been reading up on seat wedges and back supports which reduce the extremities of bucket seats so I may look into those as my last throw of the dice otherwise I'll need to look into replacing the seat or discussing my options to settle the finance and returning the car which my pocket can't afford