New seats, or new car?

"BJ" (benjamin-bignell) 07/01/2018 at 07:10 • Filed to: None

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I have a problem, Oppo. The seats and/or seating position in my 2005 4Runner are gonna kill me.

I have a base-level SR5 and the seats are bad. Wrong curve for the length of my long back, and what little adjustments they offer only seem to make things worse. On short trips and running about, I have no issue. But on longer trips (300 km or more) I get really uncomfortable. I do 3-5 trips of this length every year.

I’m 800+ km from home right now, and the return trip is going to be rough. I’m genuinely dreading it.

So what are my options (once I do make it home)?

- Do nothing and suffer

- Get a deluxe leather seat from a Limited model. Pros: more adjustments. Cons: not sure it’ll be better, and I would rather stick with a cloth seat.

- Find a compatible and more comfortable seat from another car. Is this even possible?

- Aftermarket seats, which I suspect will be a whole other battle.

- Sell the truck and get something else.

Help m e, Oppo!

pip bip - choose Corrour > BJ 07/01/2018 at 07:19

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if you intend to keep the vehicle for a good length of time, get an aftermarket seat.

if not, get the leather one.

BJ > pip bip - choose Corrour 07/01/2018 at 07:30

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I have no hard plans, but think I may want to sell the truck at the end of 2019 to upgrade/change. I’m not too open to selling sooner because I’ve just put a new suspension in.

I guess I could get the leather seat and a nice cloth seat cover... 

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > BJ 07/01/2018 at 07:31

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Change the seats! If you do, make sure there is no airbag sensor in the passenger seat though if you care about that because otherwise the sensor to turn it on and off for baby seats or whatever won’t work!

BJ > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 07/01/2018 at 07:49

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Thanks for reminding me of this. There is a sensor in the passenger seat, but if I only change the driver seat, I’ll have no issues. And if I get another Toyota seat, it’ll work as well.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > BJ 07/01/2018 at 07:57

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For sure. Another seat from a different year 4runner of your gen or a higher trim would PROBABLY just swap right in, plug for the sensor included. It’s possible other Toyota car or truck seats could swap in too if Toyota used the same plug on all of them.

I know it can be odd though - My MC 2006-2011 generation Hyundai Accent was basically the same exact car underneath as the 2006-2011 Kia Rio (same drivetrain, many of the same interior components), but the passenger seat in the Kia oddly has a different plug to the Accent despite things like stereos and gauge clusters being the same on both (just with different faces) and climate control knobs being the same (just with SLIGHTLY different mounting holes).

Cash Rewards > BJ 07/01/2018 at 08:08

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Rent a car for the long trips

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > BJ 07/01/2018 at 08:32

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There is only one choice:

Be sure to take it with you when you sell the car as it will probably be more valuable. I think these seats were about $1,000 40 years ago, as I recall from an old Road and Track article.

ToyotaFamily > BJ 07/01/2018 at 09:14

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Try the seats from a Sport trim 4Runner.

I personally love mine.

shop-teacher > BJ 07/01/2018 at 09:17

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Are aftermarket seats even an option with airbag sensors in the seats?

BJ > ToyotaFamily 07/01/2018 at 09:21

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My Mom has an 03 Limited and I don’t recall ever having problems with the seat , but it's been a few years since I've driven it. And since she's 4000 km away, I can't just pop over to try them... 

BJ > Cash Rewards 07/01/2018 at 09:25

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Good idea, but the long trips usually include offroading/trail rides, so that’s not an option in this case. We have a second car we can use for road trips that don’t go offroad.

In fact, we should have taken the other car on this trip, since it’s all highway, but we don’t have a hitch installed on it and I really wanted to have the kids’ bikes with us. We might be over the safe weight limit, too, this time. 5 people and their stuff gets heavy!

BJ > shop-teacher 07/01/2018 at 09:27

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You could probably hard wire it so the sensor is always triggered. You’d waste an airbag in a crash, but my truck would likely be a write- off in a single airbag incident, so that changes nothing. 

boxrocket > BJ 07/01/2018 at 09:37

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Get a Volvo, like an XC60 or XC90 (which I have and love it). Extremely comfortable seats designed for actual humans. Not as adjustable as some out there - the 30-way seats in the Lincoln Navigator & Continental come to mind, as they are the next-comfiest seats I’ve yet encountered - but in a way for the better because there’s less to get wrong.

Double-check that it’s actually the seats, though. I found on a previous car that my placement of the seat and wheel were actually causing me to stretch my legs to use the pedals (longer travel pedals), which caused my lower back to be in agony over anything over a half-hour drive. Also consider how much room you have in the foot-well, as having some freedom of movement can help prevent soreness and/or stiffness; I’d take a RAV4 on a road trip over an Escape (for example) because while I greatly prefer the Escape’s infotainment system, the RAV4 has a wide and deep (phrasing!) foot-well and a large left foot rest, where the Escape has a narrower and more-confining (but not to old Italian supercar levels) foot-well.

If you do decide to swap seats, I recommend getting a wax or Play-Doh (or similar) impression of your seats’ and harness’ connectors, along with lots of photos all the way around each one with a ruler or coin next to each for size reference. Also count and record the number and location of the pins in both the male and female connectors as your harness might not have the wiring capable of running a higher-grade seat. Also if you scavenge nicer seats, make sure to get any other accessory (like seat heaters) wiring, fuses, relays, and buttons to go with it. Make sure to check for airbags, because if the new seat has - for example - a side airbag in it and yours doesn’t and your car doesn’t have the sensors, it can throw a code and an airbag light. Finally, also measure the mounting locations for the tracks and seat frame; I’ve seen a car - I want to say it was a Nissan Maxima - where a nicer seat didn’t fit because the track was different to accomodate the A/C seat parts and airflow.

You mentioned having the seats redeone. A good auto upholstery shop can make custom seats for surprisingly cheap, and you get to have it measured and cushioned to your liking, as well as picking the material. One of my friends had his Wrangler redone in Carhardt jacket material, which looks cool as heck. 

ToyotaFamily > BJ 07/01/2018 at 10:16

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find a junkyard or dealer selling one maybe?

I think there were seat changes for the 02-05 vs and 06 + facelift apart from each trim level having different style seats.

Aftermarket seats might be a good choice too. Just have to find a bracket and wire in a resistor so your airbag light stays off.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > BJ 07/01/2018 at 10:18

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E9x seats evidently fit. 

Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection > BJ 07/01/2018 at 10:29

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It may work as well. 2nd generation airbags have sensors in both driver and passenger seats to adjust for the mass of the occupant. If you can find an SR5+ seat with cloth and power that should plug and play. Otherwise you can get a leather seat with power and swap the covers. The foam underneath is the same that year for power vs manual.

If you know your way around a set of ho g ring pliers it should be ok. Otherwise a trim shop can do it in about 45 minutes. 

Alfalfa > BJ 07/01/2018 at 10:31

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Have you tried any of those ergonomic back support pillow things? That may help.

If not, p ull a Volvo seat from a junk yard.

shop-teacher > BJ 07/01/2018 at 11:36

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True, but I’d hate to take an airbag to the face, if I didn't  have to. That crap hurts!

vicali > BJ 07/01/2018 at 11:59

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Post on T4R and see if anyone has seats nearby. I’d say easy upgrade to a higher model trim would be my first choice.

E92M3 > BJ 07/01/2018 at 12:07

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What abo ut a Lexus GX ?

wafflesnfalafel > BJ 07/01/2018 at 16:18

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H ave you tried a lumbar roll? I have been blessed with back issues as well and the only thing that works for me is a hard lumbar roll - kind of inconvenient but honestly it’s the only thing that makes spending any time in a vehicle tolerable for me, (car, plane, bus...)

BJ > wafflesnfalafel 07/01/2018 at 18:45

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The current seats have adjustable inflatable lumbar support, but lots or little doesn’t seem to make a difference. I'm trying right now with the support inflated a lot, we'll see how that goes.

I think the problem is a combination of factors:

- Long back, so my shoulders get folded forwards by the upper seat back.

- Low, nearly flat seating position. The floor plan is relatively flat.

- Overall, just the wrong shape of seat...

BJ > boxrocket 07/01/2018 at 18:47

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Thanks for the ideas. I sit relatively straight up and close, because my legs aren’t very long in relation to the rest of me...

I think I'll have to do some junkyard trips to see what I can find.