2014 Mazda 3 seats - a pain in the ribs.

[cre8tiveOne]

Just over a month ago I traded in my 2004 Mazda 6 i for a 2014 Mazda 3 i Touring hatchback. I love this new car, but thoughts of trading it in before I even make my first payment have been going through my head. The reason: the driver's seat is painfully too narrow for my body. I'm a fairly average guy with a 38" waist and proportional body, but the 2014 Mazda 3 seat side bolsters dig into my back-right rib cage so painfully that I'm getting desperate. I've added a thin pillow behind my back to push me forward a little but that's only a marginal improvement. I'm starting to wonder if anyone knows if earlier Mazda 3 seats are a direct bolt-in to the 2014? Anyone else experiencing this problem? Anyone have an answer or another solution?

 

[lowincash]

This is the first I've heard of the seats causing such discomfort. Are the cloth seats on the iTouring harder than the leatherette/leather seats? I've only tested the iGT with leatherette seats and I currently have the sGT with leather seats and both did not give me any discomfort at all. I actually find these seats really comfortable and supportive, after adjusting the lumbar. Do you get pain after driving for a long time?

 

[cre8tiveOne]

The cloth Touring seats don't have an adjustable lumbar. If they did, that might help a little. When I first got in the car for a test drive I was like, "Yes"! The firm side bolsters felt great. It was only after I bought the car and began driving it on a daily basis that I started to feel the discomfort after about a half hour of driving. And it's a cumulative thing. Instead of me getting use to it, the pain remains -- making me dread getting in the car. It seems like the seat back is too narrow, and the side bolsters thrust out at such a sharp angle that the juncture where the two meet is creating the pain.

 

[Neo90277]

Hi there,

I too, have experienced massive discomfort (not just mild discomfort) with my cloth iTouring Hatchback seats. I had the same experience - a 10 minute test drive seemed fine. While driving my car two hours from where I bought to my house, I was miserable. I previously owned a 2003 Protg 5, and the seats were great in that car. I never suspected seats discomfort would be something to watch out for. By the way, I am 6 feet, 180, fit and trim, no back problems, more leg than torso, for the record.

I took my car to an upholstery shop recommended by my Ford dealer (I also own a 2010 Ford Escape). The guys seems to be pretty knowledgeable. Together, we diagnosed several problems with the Mazda 3 iTouring seat:

1. The lumbar cushion is way too low at the bottom of the seat back
2. The back area of the seat bottom has a separate section that raises up, creating a "V" shape right where the curve of my butt is
3. The headrests are cranked forward way too far (apparently to compensate for the lack of active restraints). This allows Mazda to get a higher safety rating, even though out heads are forced to stare at the ground as a result

Today, my upholstery guy took apart my seat and made some changes:

a. placed a sloping piece of foam in the bottom cushion to reduce the "V" effect. Apparently the small thin section that is raised and causing the problem was put there to pad a structural bar.
b. Moved the lumbar cushion to where I asked it to be based on my body shape
c. Bent the rails in both headrests about 15 degrees so that they are more upright and do not encroach the natural head position

All of the above cost be under $160 for the driver seat only. I will say that the seat is a lot better than it was, but some additional work is still needed for me to get it to where I could sit in the car for a 6-hour trip. I expect the fine tuning will cost another $75 maximum.

Like Cre8tiveOne, I was thinking about selling my car days after I bought it, that's how important the seat comfort is to me. The sad thing is every other aspect of the car is amazing, especially for the price. I will post again once I have had the upholstery guy fine tune the seat. I hope the above is helpful to others.

Here's to Zoom Zoom, rather than Doom Doom.....

 

[concept]

I've noticed that my MX5 seat lower cushion also allows my butt to sink down too low in the center. My 3 is a bit better, but could use some additional cushioning. After owning an 89 MX6 GT for 17 years, I now miss its super-aggressive side bolsters. The 3's actually feel too loose. Then again, I have a 29" waist.

 

[cre8tiveOne]

Thanks for the additional input on this subject Neo90277! I was also frustrated by the headrest alignment pushing my head forward. I eventually found a seatback tilt that was comfortable for driving which also positioned the headrest back far enough to eliminate the problem. However, doing so forced me to extend the steering column to its limit, still leaving my legs a little cramped at the pedals.

You are a bolder man than I -- having your seat disassembled and adjusted on a brand new car, but it sounds like you are taking the more productive route. Hopelessly readjusting a pillow every time you get in your car like I'm doing is very frustrating. I may have to bite the bullet and spend the money to have a pro custom-fit my seat as well. It's got to be less expensive than paying a grand for used leather seats from a salvage yard.

 

[Chibana]

Wow. That sucks, guys. I was actually pleasantly surprised at how comfortable I was on a recent 6,035 mile trip my son and I took around the country visiting multiple national parks. We had several 10+ hour drives. I have the leather sGT seats, though. I don't know how different the seats are. I'm a little surprised about the comment about the headrests. The headrests on my 2012 Focuses were pushed further forward than my current 2014 3 for the same reason--whiplash protection. I found those more annoying. I don't know many cars in this class at this price that have active head restraints. They pretty much all poke too far forward.

 

[cre8tiveOne]

Inspired by Neo90277, I took my car to an upholstery shop near me to have them appraise my seat issues. The owner came out to have a look at my car since he was unfamiliar with the 2014 Mazda 3. I'm not too sure I will return to this shop to have any work done because his first suggestion to cure my problems was to say, "Buy American!". It's pointless to argue with anyone who will vocalize a thought like that to someone they don't know, so I didn't comment.

In a more constructive vein he told me that they could pad out the middle of the seat about 1.5 inches for about $250.00. And free of charge, he showed me that the headrests could be pulled out of the seatback and re-installed backwards. Initially, that looked like a great idea because they lined up with the seat back oriented that way, rather than thrusting forward. But after I got in the seat and tried it out, I found that my head would have to travel about 6 - 8 inches backwards before encountering the restraint. That's way too far to have your neck cranked behind your shoulders during a rear end collision.

I also returned to the dealer where the service department told me there was nothing they could do about the seats. When I asked if earlier Mazda 3 seats could bolt in to the 2014 they said they really didn't know, and showed no interest in trying to find out. They suggested I check for myself.

 

[StanleyIpcus]

Hey I'm new to the forum! Sorry that has happened it is a really big pain.

 

[meeus]

I find that my wife car's seat back is too firm for my comfort.
It would be OK if the shape of the seat fit my back perfectly but it does not.
As it was already mentioned the lumbar pillow is too low and does not support my lower back.
Now I am sort of happy it is not my car - my wife loves it though, and otherwise it is great.

 

[ivakdiver]

Just purchased a 2014 3 GS Sky Sedan and the seat fit and comfort was one feature that my wife and I liked. Hope they are ok for those longer trips. Will have to see. This is our fifth Mazda, having had, 1993, 2000, and two 2002 Proteges.

 

[concept]

1. The lumbar cushion is way too low at the bottom of the seat back
2. The back area of the seat bottom has a separate section that raises up, creating a "V" shape right where the curve of my butt is

After driving almost daily 35 minute commutes, I've noticed that the bottom of the seat is causing slight pain in my right side. I may have the following done, as you have:

a. placed a sloping piece of foam in the bottom cushion to reduce the "V" effect. Apparently the small thin section that is raised and causing the problem was put there to pad a structural bar.
b. Moved the lumbar cushion to where I asked it to be based on my body shape.

Thanks for providing ideas for correcting the issues.

 

[cre8tiveOne]

After stitching 3 different versions of back support pillows I finally determined what I needed in order to push my body forward, out of the "well" made by the side bolsters. Even after this though, I was still frustrated because the pillow was always moving around as I drove. So, earlier this week I scheduled time with an upholstery shop and had foam placed inside the seat cover. You can't fit a lot in there so, to get what I needed I had them add a 1/2 inch thick yoga mat cut precisely to the shape of the back rest, between the side bolsters. The yoga mat is thin, and very dense being made of rubber impregnated foam. Then on top of that was a half inch layer of softer sponge foam to give my spine and shoulder blades something to sink into. It was necessary for the shop to add fabric to the seams inside the seat cover so they could be pulled through the thicker foam and attached to the frame inside. The seat back belly's outward now slightly rather than being concave like the factory original. When they were done, if you didn't have the passenger seat to compare to, you'd never know anything was done. This has made a world of difference in the comfort of the seat.

 

[Ceristimo]

Sorry for bumping a 3 year old post, but I recently bought a 2014 Mazda 3 i grand touring to replace my (rusting) 2001 Protege. It has the power leatherette seats with manual lumbar.

During the test drive everything felt great, but after having driven the car for 3 weeks, I have a really severe, and screaming lower back pain. The pain is right between the top of my tail bone and the curve in the lower middle of my back. It has gotten so sore that I feel it when not sitting in the car as well.

In fact, it has gotten so bad, that I pulled the ad for my old Protege from Craigslist, and have been driving that car to work again, since those seats fit me like a glove. Three days of driving my Protege and my back pain was completely gone. I went back to driving the Mazda 3 (thinking I imagined the back pain), and half way through my morning commute I had shooting pain in my lower back, down my right leg again. I'm so frustrated with this I almost want to cry. I love the Mazda 3, but I just can't stand sitting in it.

So I did some testing with all kinds of pillows and rolled up towels and comparing things between the Mazda 3 and my Protege (the Protege is absolute heaven for me to sit in) and I found the lumbar support in the Mazda 3 is too low and too pronounced, even with the lumbar on the lowest setting. it just does not hit me in the right spot at all.

Because the lumbar is too low, I need to scoot a little forward for it to hit my back properly, which causes my butt to be pushed away from the seat too much, causing the area right above my butt and the small of my back to not be supported by the backrest at all (I can stick a fist in the gap between my back in that area and the seat). The Protege seat on the other hand doesn't have this ridiculous lumbar issue, so I can sit with my butt all the way against the back of the seat, so the seat supports my whole back properly. Which is how a seat should be!

I folded up a bath towel and put it against the bottom of the back rest...And guess what, the seat is almost as comfortable as the Protege. I can sit all the way with my butt against the back rest, with the weird gap now filled in by the towel and the lumbar support hitting me in the proper spot in my back.

It is still not 100% perfect, as the Mazda 3 seat bottom is too flat (and you can't tilt the forward section of the seat upwards like the Protege), but it's a helluvalot better.

At work right now, but will post some pics tonight to show what I mean and how I have the towel.

I am currently still driving my Protege and leaving the Mazda 3 parked, but now that I read through this topic I realized I should maybe also contact an upholstery store to see if they can somehow fill in the bottom of the seat back a little, to make the seat flatter and fit me better.

Now, the headrest is an entirely different issue, but I'm so fed up with this I might just bend them back with some force...If I break the headrest, at least replacements are easy to come by.

Man, Mazda really screwed the pooch on these seats

 

[GJ-Molestor]

I am 6'3 200 pounds and never had an issue with these seats. they are a little small for bigger frames, but I dont find them uncomfortable at all.

I do have the leatherette seats however.

 

[Ceristimo]

I have the leatherette seats as well. I am glad you don't have a problem with them, but unfortunately that doesn't make mine go away.

 

[GJ-Molestor]

I have the leatherette seats as well. I am glad you don't have a problem with them, but unfortunately that doesn't make mine go away.

Im sorry to hear that youre not happy with your seat. Did you try sitting on the passenger side? Does it feel the same?

Have you sat in a different Mazda 3 that was also uncomfortable like this?

I guess your only option is to find an upholstery place like someone else on this forum mentioned and have them custom tailor the seat to your preference.

Good luck.

 

[Ceristimo]

The passenger seat does not have the problem as it has no adjustable lumbar support and less lumbar than the drivers seat with lumbar all the way turned down.

The upholstery place is going to be my plan b. I ordered an obus back rest and will give that a try first. However, being in Alaska, shipping anything takes forever so I am waiting for that to arrive next week. In the mean time, Im back to driving the protege. Which is not that bad, I love that car, and am now slowly second guessing whether I really want to get rid of it, especially since the seats in the 3 are such a disappointment. But I do want to exhaust every option before selling the 3.

 

[Ceristimo]

So here's what I did for now:



Folded up a hand towel and put it right where my back is missing support (underneath the lumbar). This instantly makes the seat a whole lot better. No more back pain, and as an added bonus it shifts my position in the seat just so that the lumbar is hitting the correct spot in my back, instead of hitting my back an inch too low.

Based on this, part of me wants to cancel the order for the back rest and call an upholstery shop right away, but I want to give the back rest an honest try before going that route.

I had to look for a very long time to find an almost full-option Mazda3 in stick shift, so I really don't want to get rid of it. Seeing how the folded towel fixes nearly all the problems I have (though it's far from ideal, because you have a towel in your back...) I am hoping there is a fix for this.

I'll keep you guys posted just in case someone else in the future with a new-to-them-Mazda3 and agonizing lower back pain comes across this thread. This thread gave me my plan B of calling an upholstery shop in the first place.

 

[3ree]

I came up with the same towel "solution" in a '17 GT(faux leather). Not ideal, but cheapest/easiest.

Any complaints about the shape (rim cross-section) of the steering wheel? Feels very "pointy" against the palms..