F150 Lariat Seat Uncomfortable

[Mercury49]

That's funny, I was going to ask about seat discomfort too but it's not my ass that aches, it's my lower back. I have a 23 Tremor 402A so Lariat seats basically. The ones in my 16 were fine, although I got that truck as a demo with 10,000 km on it so it was broken in. I'm giving the truck a chance and playing with the seat settings and hoping the back softens up a bit.

What I THINK is happening is my shoulder blades aren't making direct contact with the seat because the center portion seems to sit slightly proud of the outer edges. I'm thinking it will break in.

I've struggled with the lower back area too, although I think I've found an acceptable position playing with the lumbar support and seat angle. Overall just an oddly designed seat.

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[Mercury49]

I have had issues with similar seat seams throughout the years. At 6' 1"@ 186lbs with a bony butt, I had that issue with my $100k Audi A8 that had 22-way adjustment and I could never get my butt off that seam. I did not test the Lariat and Platinum back to back but my Plat seam does NOT bother me. As described above, it took a good month to dial in my perfect setting.... but that's typical for me with seats that have so many adjustments.

Not Ideal Solution: I purchased a Butt Buffer cushion for my Goldwing. It's the thinnest effective seat pad I've used, can ride on it all day, and it comes in different sizes.

Thanks, I'll look into those. I do have a cheap pad I found on Amazon that makes things bearable, but I agree it's not ideal

 

[fordhouston]

Admittedly not as plush as a Ram I had test drove, but good enough.

I feel the exact opposite haha. My Ram’s seats feel more firm than my Ford’s seats.

 

[Kodiak]

I've struggled with the lower back area too, although I think I've found an acceptable position playing with the lumbar support and seat angle. Overall just an oddly designed seat.

The lumbar support adjustment is a good point. When I started driving back from Granger after about 4 hours my lower back was feeling it. I said when I started out driving the next day I was going to play around with the adjustments to see if that helped. I hoped I did not make a mistake with this truck.

Only after I adjusted the lumbar did all those back issues go away. Now it is a very nice seat for me.

 

[dhrandy]

I wonder if the leather 40/20/40 bench seat on my 21 is different. I find it plenty comfortable even on a 9-hour trip. Never been an issue for me.

 

[HammaMan]

That's funny, I was going to ask about seat discomfort too but it's not my ass that aches, it's my lower back. I have a 23 Tremor 402A so Lariat seats basically. The ones in my 16 were fine, although I got that truck as a demo with 10,000 km on it so it was broken in. I'm giving the truck a chance and playing with the seat settings and hoping the back softens up a bit.

What I THINK is happening is my shoulder blades aren't making direct contact with the seat because the center portion seems to sit slightly proud of the outer edges. I'm thinking it will break in.

I believe the 402s have the base platinum seat and the 401s have lariat style. Somewhere I've shown all of the various seats taken apart and the platinums might make ya feel special due to the price, they're not. Same cushion design / thickness. The only seat of the ones I've torn apart exhibiting any additional padding is the raptor's having about 50% more under-ass cushion. I didn't so much as take it apart the raptor as a I built them with takeoff leather and $600 worth of new foam from ford.

The tri-bladder of the MCS gives more points of adjustment for the lumbar which was important for me as my #1 gripe across multiple seats in multiple vehicles is poor lower back support. Something a single point lumbar doesn't help.

 

[Grafx36510]

The seats in my 22 402A are more platinum than lariat. Don’t get me wrong, I needed to play with them to get the comfort level correct for me.

 

[fordhouston]

402A definitely has the king ranch/platinum style seating. 502A and 501A does not.

 

[Mercury49]

*UPDATE*

So, I decided to proceed on the suspicion that part of the problem was the lack of support/compression of the seat foam. I cut out a chunk of thin corrugated plastic and slid it into place between the cushion and the metal springs. Unfortunately, there's not a lot space to work, so it had to be a small piece. But it's enough to spread the load a little bit and provide a little more support to the cushion. Comfort definitely improved!

I'm now debating popping the seat out entirely and installing support along the entire bottom of the foam with cutouts for the hardware and seat functions. Comparing the feel to the passenger seat, I'm also wondering it it might be worthwhile to replace the foam. I'm not sure if the foam was not great from the factory to begin with or if the previous owner exerted "excessive compression forces."

 

[My 2ND Ford]

Hmm, interesting. Makes me wish I had test driven a higher trim level, but at the time the dealer had limited inventory of higher trim models and this lariat was set up with most of the options I wanted, plus the savings of being used.

If you get chance to check out your seat, let me know. I'm thinking of trying to mod the seat to improve comfort, so if yours looks different, maybe there's some tweaks I can make underneath with some strategically placed plastic or pads. Thanks!

Sorry it took so long to look under my seat, but I did and there is so much stuff in the way of getting a good look. Hope this helps a little.

 

[Mercury49]

Sorry it took so long to look under my seat, but I did and there is so much stuff in the way of getting a good look. Hope this helps a little.

Thanks for checking. I assume the black stuff I'm looking at is the seat foam sitting directly on the springs? If so, it's a similar design, although the foam cushion looks like the texture might be slightly different. Hard to tell though.

 

[Happy1286]

*UPDATE*

So, I decided to proceed on the suspicion that part of the problem was the lack of support/compression of the seat foam. I cut out a chunk of thin corrugated plastic and slid it into place between the cushion and the metal springs. Unfortunately, there's not a lot space to work, so it had to be a small piece. But it's enough to spread the load a little bit and provide a little more support to the cushion. Comfort definitely improved!

I'm now debating popping the seat out entirely and installing support along the entire bottom of the foam with cutouts for the hardware and seat functions. Comparing the feel to the passenger seat, I'm also wondering it it might be worthwhile to replace the foam. I'm not sure if the foam was not great from the factory to begin with or if the previous owner exerted "excessive compression forces."

The passenger seat airbag sensor (the white plastic) seems to make all the difference. I was considering doing what you're doing and with your success, I think I'll do the same. Did you just pick up the thin plastic from a hardware store?

 

[NavyChief]

Supracor
I’ve used this spacer material before and it’s great for compression and spreading pressure.
i use thicker versions for custom seating in wheelchairs

 

[Green_Enchiladas]

*UPDATE*

So, I decided to proceed on the suspicion that part of the problem was the lack of support/compression of the seat foam. I cut out a chunk of thin corrugated plastic and slid it into place between the cushion and the metal springs. Unfortunately, there's not a lot space to work, so it had to be a small piece. But it's enough to spread the load a little bit and provide a little more support to the cushion. Comfort definitely improved!

I'm now debating popping the seat out entirely and installing support along the entire bottom of the foam with cutouts for the hardware and seat functions. Comparing the feel to the passenger seat, I'm also wondering it it might be worthwhile to replace the foam. I'm not sure if the foam was not great from the factory to begin with or if the previous owner exerted "excessive compression forces."

Hey man i know its an older thread but how has it been with your seats? Did you add anything else? Get used to it? Been experiencing pain due to the seats in my truck unfortunately

 

[Etl330]

If you all think these are bad you better not go drive a current gen suburban/yukon/escalade

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