St Recaros Comfort?

[Alison79]

Hey all,

Had my ST2 for a few days now and after a couple of longer drives I've getting a painful ache in my lower back - nevre had that in other cars. I appreciate that almost everyone loves the recaros so its either me or the way I have the seat setup.

I've tried fiddling with the height and the tilt - but it seems to be the bulge in the lower part of the seat (lumbar?) which is causing the discomfort.

I will keep on fiddling with the adjustments but this is an issue I really wasn't anticipating - I value my back!

Do people on here have theirs set low to the floor or high? I've tried both and doesn't seem to make much difference so far.

Be crap to have to sell the car because I'm getting back pain, but that may end up being forced on me if I can't fix this :(

[MarksST]

It may just need to be broken in a bit so to speak, you may be too small/light and are sitting on the seat rather than sitting in it ( if that makes sense),most of use being bigger are putting more weight onto all the materials.

It may take you longer to get comfortable than me for example, so you will be constantly fiddling with the seat and steering wheel positions.

I suffer with back pain so can understand your concerns.

[Alison79]

Yes I did wonder about my size being a factor (8st 2lbs)

I've never had back pain before in my life, either from car seats or anything else so this is not nice!

Thank you for advice, I will persevere for a while at least.

[Stoney871]

A good lumbar support pad or a small cushion works wonders.

I have a duff back too and drive a Focus ST3 for work and find the seats a tad firm.

I use a mesh seat pad and I'm much happier.

Search eBay for car lumbar support.

[-Sven]

There is this little thing in the seat which normally supports the lower back, I Don't know how it is called in english but in Germany it is called Lordosestütze. This thing is only in the ST seats, the other Fiesta's don't have this. When i got my ST I also had this pain after longer drives. I also had this before when I drove my mum's Golf VI because it has this gadget too. But after a couple of weeks the problem was gone. The reason for it was the muscles in my lower back. If you give it a little bit of time, your back gets trained and everything will be fine.

Maybe a little tip: Try to adjust the angle of the seat so that you can look straight to the street comfortable if your head is connected to the seat. If you sit normal after this adjustment, it should be quite comfortable.

I hope you understand what I am trying to tell you, my english is not the best :)

[Shadows Entity]

does it not have lumbar support? Don't know the st seats but my zs has a dial you can turn on the left side of the seat that makes the lower part go in or out

[Phil 87]

I spent quite a while looking into driving / seating positions and my guess is your lower back is taking all of your weight when your entire back should be in contact with the rear of the seat (or as much as possible). I'll post this guide to setting up a comfortable driving position as I've done in several other threads:

http://www.wikihow.com/Adjust-Seating-to-the-Proper-Position-While-Driving

I modified that slightly assuming the seat will be as low as it can go for a more sporty driving position, but depending on how tall you are that might not work for you (your eye level should be about half way up the windscreen). Hopefully after following that guide you should be more comfortable, and as others have said it can take a while for your back to get used to the seat, and also the seat to mould to your shape (someone said they are designed to do that).

The seats seam to be designed for the average hight man, or even taller. I'm 6ft and it feels like the seat was made for me, although my shoulders don't quite touch the top parts which they are meant to. For that I'd have to move the seat further forward and I'd rather not risk my knees being crushed in an accident :)

does it not have lumbar support? Don't know the st seats but my zs has a dial you can turn on the left side of the seat that makes the lower part go in or out

It sort of does, it's just not adjustable. They've tried to design the seat in the shape of the human back, but unfortunately not all human backs are the same ;)

[Clarky2013]

My misses is about 8 stone and she finds them uncomfortable, also sliding around in them, bought a really thin almost pillow thing and that has sorted it out. I guess because ford don't offer different sizes on the recardos they have to cater for small er and larger body sizes.

[Alison79]

Thank you for all the comments..i sat in the car earlier and tried to work out whats causing this. And its a shame the recaros don't have the adjustable lumbar support dial as I think Phil is spot on, it does feel that the protruding lumbar 'bulge' towards the bottom of the seat back is the only part of the seat I'm in contact with and if I could dial that out of the way problem solved. Chalk one up for the zs if they have it! my size coupled with the hardness of the seat means I'm just not sinking into it fully and most of my back is getting no support at all. I have everything else adjusted properly for reach, incline etc.

Really disappointed, but this issue just didn't show itself on either of my test drives owing to their length...of course its happening as soon as I get in the car but its after about an hour or more I start to feel it and then boy, I feel it and still do for a while after the drive!

I will try the pillow suggestion clarky makes, although looking online at lumbar pillow they are the opposite of what I need - it's a case of the seat having too much support there that's the problem in the first place. Maybe just a regular thick pillow against the seat will help as it may even out the support. What will I look like driving an ST with a !Removed! pillow against the seat!!

Other than that, car is amazing fun to drive though until my problem makes itself felt :)

[Phil 87]

I forgot to mention if you can't solve the problem you might be able to swap the seats for ZS ones, I don't know how that would affect the warranty. You could ask the dealer, I would think if you can't get comfortable in the seat because of it's design (which seems to be the case) you should be able to argue that the seats aren't fit for purpose.

[philr62]

This must be very annoying for you,I had the same problem in the clio 197 i had made my back ache around the kidney area never did get the problem solved tbh.That was the only car i ever had that made me ache like that.

Im sure you can overcome this somehow maybe just playing around with the positions to take the pressure off your back a bit

The trouble with the recaros is it seems that they are made as one size fits all so to speak .

There again you might find things get better after a while,maybe your back muscles will get used to your driving position,strange things happen like that.

[Alison79]

I suspect the dealer would just say ultimately It's my fault - I test drove the car twice, ordered it and they delivered the spec I bought. And they are probably right on that legally.

But hey, I've had the car less than a week so I'm not going to chop it in for something else just yet, have a lot more adjusting and trial and error with pillows etc before I get to that horrible point!! Solve this problem and the rest of the car is great.

Is odd though, have driven a lot of cars in my life, and most of them will bolstered/bucket style seats, and have never had an iota of back pain from any of them. Must just be one of those few people whose body shape and back doesn't work with them, typical!! :)

[NQbbe]

I testdrove an ST with my wife and absolutely loved the seats, they supported every bit of my back.

The wife however, not so much... After about 10 minutes of driving she had a back ache (lower part of the back, so probably same spot as you)

Needless to say we didn't buy it.

In the ZS she has no problems though, so if you can get the seats from a ZS installed, that might solve the problem.

Also have you tried raising the back to an almost vertical position ? It might help your upper back "connect" with the seat.

[Phil 87]

It might be an idea to just call the salesman who sold you the car and see what they say about it. I wouldn't be surprised if it's a common problem with these seats.

Edit - forgot to mention, one of the main things to ensure you're comfortable (mentioned in the guide I posted) is to always make sure you push back into the seat completely, so the base of your spine is supported. A lot of people end up slouching a bit and that can cause lower back pain. They also say you shouldn't wear a coat or anything more than a shirt/t-shirt really, because it slightly changes your driving position and that could cause discomfort too. Even in winter you shouldn't need extra layers in this car with the heated seats :)

[JoeZS19]

I've had the same problem with my zetec s seats. Feels like the lower of the seat is digging in my back, tried all sorts of adjustments so think I'm just going to have to put up with it and hope i get used to it

[Divszy]

I'd love a set of recaro's from the ST in my titanium, I find them massively comfy, just a shame I have a 5 door

[Phil 87]

I'd love a set of recaro's from the ST in my titanium, I find them massively comfy, just a shame I have a 5 door

We might have a solution here, some people don't like the ST seats, and some people in other Fiestas want them. So you could meet up and swap seats lol, it's win win ;)

[Divszy]

We might have a solution here, some people don't like the ST seats, and some people in other Fiestas want them. So you could meet up and swap seats lol, it's win win ;)

I wish i could, my seats won't go forward like in a 3 door

[Matt28]

Ill swap my seats for st ones

[Loz Cheung]

Dont worry, its taken me a while to find a happy medium with my seats on my ST.They are quite heavily bolstered so they have taken a while to bed in - but i do agree that its a shame they dont have adjustable lumbar!

I change how reclined they are depending on how thick the clothing im wearing is at the time and it seems to do the trick; if you want less lumbar, tilt it forward (upright) and if you want more then tilt back a few degrees as if youre leaning more weight on it .

I dont know about anyone else but i find if im a bit upright my heads pushed too far forward from the headrest!

[MartynS]

I find the passenger one actually feels better than the driver one lol. I slip properly into that whereas I don't on mine, probably because the passenger is as low as it goes and mine is up a fair bit. With the driver one at it's lowest I can't see as much out of the windscreen. Might have to experiment some more, only got in the passenger side once to look at some stuff in the glovebox and was surprised at how much nicer the seat felt!

[SadPSAsufferer]

i have got a ford fiesta Zetec 2012, andI have arthritis and have had the car 8 months and I have the same problem with my lower back as some previous comments. I have tried various supports but not really helpfully. I really want to find a solution as dont want to sell the car. if anybody finds a cushion helpful please can you post me a link. Also I feel our steering wheel seems bigger does anybody else find that

[SadPSAsufferer]

Alison79 what did you do in end, my problem sounds so similar to yours