Back pain from the Civic's seats?

latole

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On the family, we have the less expensive Civic ( 2016 and 2018 ) , we like the seat.
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IDriveACivic

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I find that the clothes I wear also affects seating comfort while driving. Maybe it's because thicker clothing act as a back support too.
 

latole

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On the family, we have the less expensive Civic ( 2016 and 2018 ) , we like the seat.
After 2 week in Europe, my first long drive yesterday , 400 miles. Seat was better on my renting car, a Opel
 

Axatax

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Coming from a sixth-gen Civic, these are like luxury seats.

Those things (sixth-gen) were so spongy and bouncy it was like you're sitting on a 1970's couch, minus the psychedelic colors. These (X gen) are really firm and conforming seats. You don't roll out of them when taking corners.
 

latole

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Coming from a sixth-gen Civic, these are like luxury seats.

Those things (sixth-gen) were so spongy and bouncy it was like you're sitting on a 1970's couch, minus the psychedelic colors. These (X gen) are really firm and conforming seats. You don't roll out of them when taking corners.

Coming from a 2007 Corolla , I agree
 


CivicBuff

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When I first got my Civic I experienced back pain for the first week. I spent that week learning all the new tech stuff and not adjusting my seat position. After I made minor adjustments no more back pain for last 2 months!
 

VarmintCong

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I've only noticed the bottom (cloth) part seems hard to me, though maybe it broke in, don't mind it as much. No back issues.

If it comes to it, buy Recaro seats - cheaper than trading the car.
 

MrBrig

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I found that seats are very supportive, meaning not a lot of room to move, Lack of moving can cause back stiffness. Might want to adjust your position or fidget some while driving.
 

sukh1987

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Hello, Hope you are doing good today. Want to ask if you were able to resolve your problem and if yes, what did you exactly do? I am also looking to buy new civic very soon (most likely Si), however my wife experienced back problem during test ride. So I want to find out for any possible fix before making purchase. Thank you in advance
 

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The Civic seats are quite good, they are probably not the real cause of any back problems. The real problem varies, sometimes it could even be psychological, but it is not the seats themselves, either in a car or in an office.

Good posture helps. Also, some exercises for the back and for the abs can help a lot.
 


BogdanM

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From my experience, usually the source of the back pain is a bad sitting position (which, although it might seem comfy at the beginning, harms on the long run).
Recently i took a long drive (almost 2000 miles round trip, almost 1000 miles each way, each trip done in one day, ~14hrs). During the first day of driving I noticed some lower back / behind pain, after like 6-7hrs of driving. On the way back I started playing with the seat and it seems that i was sitting a bit too far back than i should have. Although initially it seemed that I was too close now and in my mind I was only thinking about setting the seat back to the previous position, I resisted and after a couple hundreds of kms i realised that this is the correct position and that the pain mentioned above not only is not getting worse but it seems to slowly go away. As a mention, I had been using the initial position for 20.000kms (12.500 miles).

I the end, the difference between the initial seating position and the adjusted one was only 1 seat rail teeth, 1 click (~5 millimetres) , but that was forcing me to slouch and my lower portion of the back was not firmly pressed against the seat and was not supported. Instead it was slightly arched.

And yes, the bottom of the seat is firm and that accounts for some of the fatigue of my behind (after all those hours of driving) but that was probably the source of 20% of the discomfort I was experiencing, the rest of 80% was due to bad sitting position.

Sorry for the long post but what I wanted to put out there is that if you are feeling discomfort while driving on longer distances, please analyse your sitting position first, like really look into it (I was also convinced initially that my driving position is spot on :) ).
Also, something I have discovered to help is that when you are doing slight modifications to a seating position you have been used to, step out of the car, adjust the seat, get into the car. This is because when you first get into the car you try to adjust to the position of the seat / position you are used to and automatically get into a position that is incorrect but with which you are accustomed to and feels..familiar.
If you step out and then step in you reset your sitting position and adjust to the new one, as per the adjustments done to the seat. Resist the temptation to get back to the initial one, allow a few days of driving around so you can get used to it and "forget" the previous setup.
 
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CivicBuff

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Also, keep your rear pant pockets empty. This will help with back pain and pick-pockets. :)
 

frontlinegeek

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I almost thought I was stuck with a bad seating car too.

I am 6 foot and 240, solid farmer shaped build. The first two months I had the car, I all of a sudden developed a rather uncomfortable issue with my arm/shoulder while sitting in the car. Most of the issue ended up being that I had a pinched nerve in my neck and I had also not learned that sloppy sitting in the Gen7 Civic is not compatible with the seats in a GenX. I got over both issues and went on to thoroughly enjoy the car (Except the insanely low ground clearance), even going for 8 hour drives and not having any inclination to shift around in the seat at all.

The seats could stand to have a little bit more lumbar support but the real annoyance for someone my size is that the side bolsters dig into my lats if I don't sit pretty much straight in the seat. Also I stopped having my wallet in my back pocket a long time ago so that is always a good first step for anywhere you sit if you still do this. My brother is about the same size and he likes the seating in it but has not taken a GenX on a long drive yet.
 

liljay2008

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I first posted this in a thread on the R-Type section. A poster kindly pointed that out to me and suggested I repost it in the general section. Apologies if you've read this more than once. I'll try and keep things streamlined...


My car:
2018 Honda Civic Touring (obviously, leather seats), purchased this month

Me:
Male, 37, 5' 10", 190lbs, muscular build (could stand to lose about 10 lbs). Have a naturally very broad back from the shoulders down to waist. I workout regularly and I have no recent injuries or strains. My most recent car was a 2008 Camry Hybrid. However, I haven't owned a car recently. With a lot of travel for work, instead, I've been renting new cars for a year. That has ranged from bottom of the trim-level economy cars like Sentras to luxury sedans, to muscle cars like the Mustang GT, to giant SUVs -- it just depended upon what was available at the rental agency when my late night flights arrived. Bottom line, I've driven a wide variety of cars over the past year and haven't experienced this type of issue on even the lowest trim rentals.

The problem:
I am experiencing back pain/soreness/discomfort after driving 30+ minutes. I did not experience this on my two test drives. The pain is primarily in my mid to upper part of my lower back. I feel discomfort during the drive; the pain/soreness comes shortly after getting out of the car. I have tried a variety of seat height and angle as well as steering wheel adjustments thus far. Since I've only had the car a few days, I'll keep trying this for the time being, but if I continue to not find a position that relieves the pain, I'll look at a supplemental support cushion, though doing so on a brand new car feels ridiculous to me.

If neither solution works, I guess I'll have to consider something radical, like even trading it back in for a different vehicle. That seems even crazier, but I can't deal with 5 years of back pain for the car I like.

I've read that some people find the Civic seats don't provide enough lumbar support. We're all built differently, but I'm surprised to read that as I find it provides way too much lumbar support now that I've driven it for a few days. If a car has adjustable lumbar support, I tend to push it out as far back as it goes. I find the supposed virtues of lumbar support-oriented seating to be a literal pain in the back. It's why I can't stand those supposedly great Herman Miller office chairs. Anyway, just offering that info as I'm not looking for more lumbar support.

A colleague with a similar build tried the driver's seat out for a trip we were on this morning and described it like so: "way too much lumbar support and, overall, the seats are so firm and rigid that, rather than it feeling like you are sitting on/in the seat, it feels like the seat is digging into you." I'd agree with this sentiment. And, I'd note that neither of us enjoys a mushy seat, but, to me at least, there's a difference between support and rigidity.

Anyone in a similar situation? Did you find a solution? Any supplemental cushion recommendations?
Ok so I kinda have the same problem, thought maybe it was just because I’m too short lmao coz I’m 5’5. However mine comes and goes but definitely during extended driving. Not sure maybe getting new seats would make a difference
 

Hondaman_MI

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I almost thought I was stuck with a bad seating car too.
The seats could stand to have a little bit more lumbar support but the real annoyance for someone my size is that the side bolsters dig into my lats if I don't sit pretty much straight in the seat. Also I stopped having my wallet in my back pocket a long time ago so that is always a good first step for anywhere you sit if you still do this. My brother is about the same size and he likes the seating in it but has not taken a GenX on a long drive yet.
The lumbar support Honda offers in the CRV and Accord is disappointing. Ford had the best from my personal experience with my parents Marquee.
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