ChatGPT - write a pop song about the discomfort of sitting in the Model Y. Please include guitar tabs.
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I regret my Model Y purchase because of seat comfort and seating position problems
- Thread starter ehfz
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- thigh support issues
ChatGPT - write a pop song about the discomfort of sitting in the Model Y. Please include guitar tabs.
whisperingshad
Active Member
Wierd, EVERYONE who gets into my Y(front or back seats), the one the thing they compliment is the seat comfort.
I hear you on the headrest. To give people a sense for what I mean when I say I have a long torso -> for me, the headrest is a neck rest. the curve of the headrest actually fits the curve of the back of my neck nicely, so while the rest of the seat is uncomfortable, ironically the head rest doesn't give me the same issues that others have where it feels like it pushes their heads forward
As I read this, I'm picturing a giraffe trying to fit into the Model Y.
This is not a silly suggestion. Try it. I have seen shorter people doing this.I am 6'4" and find the Y to be very comfortable.
I am surprised that with 6'2" you say that you sit relatively close to the dash. Are your lags that short that you can't reach pedals or (this is what I assume) you just got used to the seating position from the past experience to keep a short distance from the body to the steeting wheel.
I notice sometimes drivers who sit veeeery close to the steering wheel, like within 1 foot between body and a steering wheel. And this is an incorrect seating position. Maybe it's something that you need to adjust?
With my 6'4", the steering wheel column setting extended to a max position, and the back of the seat tilted backward, aligned with a middle pillar. In this seating position, if I extend the arm and put it on the top of the steering wheel, it will be around my wrist area (or slightly closer to a palm). This is a considered correct distance from the body to the steering wheel.
By the way, you can additionally adjust the how high is your head by tilting the seat back. So ll kind of transition to a more "cinema couch" position rather than sitting straight (which is more relaxing by the way). So with shorter legs, you can pull the seat close enough so you can reach pedals, extend the steering column length to maximum, and then tilt the back of the seat backwards. And to balance this, you can tilt the seat itself backwards as well. So you ll seat almost like Formula 1 driver
Even in the really small previous cars, this trick always worked for me. Try it.
I also think the Y seat should be able to lower 2-3” more. I think I have a similar build, just shy of 6’2, 195, 30-31” inseam. I find like I do in most cars the answer is to lean the back seat. Not great for posture or very safe to have the seatbelt up on your belly, but it’s the only way I can see a light. For the narrowness, I feel like I experienced this a few times early on, but either got used to it or the lean fixed it.
I test drove the 2023 Model 3 today. The seats were awful. They were too firm and the head rest too far forward. I wouldn’t be able to live with them. My M3 2019 LR is fabulously comfy. There is such a contrast. The one I drove was Std Range. Does anyone know if the quality of the seats is different in the LR or Performance?
So... I had been searching around for similar issues and here I find I wasn't the only one.
We had an overnight extended test drive, and weirdly didn't notice any issues with the seat at all. Granted the longest drive we took was about 45 minutes and there was lots of new stuff to play with and try out to keep me distracted.
I've had the car about 5 weeks and I'm into it for 3,900 kms so far. After the first 2 weeks ish I started really becoming more familiar with the car and settling-in so to speak. That's when I started noticing a possible seat comfort issue. I had been tinkering with seat adjustments for another 2 weeks as I kept noticing pressure on my arse like I was sitting on my wallet (I wasn't) or like the bolster was digging in and affecting my left leg in particular.
I've done some looking up, some tinkering, and I'm heading towards a happier place. I won't say I've found the absolute sweet spot yet, but I'm better off now than I was a couple of weeks ago.
I had seen posts here and reddit where folks stacked paper under their seat to lift up the center section of the bump. I grabbed a small stack of printer paper and gave it a go. Much better in terms of wallet-in-pants feeling, but it understandably felt a bit like I was sitting on a book after 20 minutes.
Looking up seat modification (which I didn't really want to do) I got the idea to try a piece of high density foam in place of the paper stack to add some cush and remove that sitting on a board feeling. Not wanting to spend a bunch of $ on amazon for a piece of foam that might or might not work I had an idea to try cutting one of the foam floor tiles we had for our younger kids. These come in the 2'x2' squares that fit together like puzzles and are meant to soften hard floors for kids.
I have cut a piece slightly smaller than the size of the stack of paper to not interfere with the seat occupancy sensor cable, removed the paper stack and slipped this in under the seat in it's place. It's sitting between the springs at the bottom of the seat that the stock pad sits on and the stock seat bottom cushion.
It is significantly better for me than stock or the paper pad. I feel I'm lifted up a bit in the back compared to the stack of paper I had but also feel like it's got a bit more give than the paper alone. This lifts up the center rear butt portion of the seat without lifting up the bolster padding to help relieve that pinching wallet-in-the-pocket feeling. And it's definitely helping for that!
As a result I've made some more seat adjustments:
- elevated the seat bottom
- tinkered with the back-rest angle to try and find a comfortable spot near the 110 degree angle mark that's claimed to be optimal
- extended the lumbar support more than I had before
I can now get through my 1hr ish commute without significant discomfort and with only minor changes to my position throughout my drive. I'm still not at the set it and forget it, cruise all day with no issues position I had in my last car ('18 Mazda 6) but I think it's progress. I feel like I need to try to keep tinkering but I'm at a point where I'm afraid to make it worse lol.
We had an overnight extended test drive, and weirdly didn't notice any issues with the seat at all. Granted the longest drive we took was about 45 minutes and there was lots of new stuff to play with and try out to keep me distracted.
I've had the car about 5 weeks and I'm into it for 3,900 kms so far. After the first 2 weeks ish I started really becoming more familiar with the car and settling-in so to speak. That's when I started noticing a possible seat comfort issue. I had been tinkering with seat adjustments for another 2 weeks as I kept noticing pressure on my arse like I was sitting on my wallet (I wasn't) or like the bolster was digging in and affecting my left leg in particular.
I've done some looking up, some tinkering, and I'm heading towards a happier place. I won't say I've found the absolute sweet spot yet, but I'm better off now than I was a couple of weeks ago.
I had seen posts here and reddit where folks stacked paper under their seat to lift up the center section of the bump. I grabbed a small stack of printer paper and gave it a go. Much better in terms of wallet-in-pants feeling, but it understandably felt a bit like I was sitting on a book after 20 minutes.
Looking up seat modification (which I didn't really want to do) I got the idea to try a piece of high density foam in place of the paper stack to add some cush and remove that sitting on a board feeling. Not wanting to spend a bunch of $ on amazon for a piece of foam that might or might not work I had an idea to try cutting one of the foam floor tiles we had for our younger kids. These come in the 2'x2' squares that fit together like puzzles and are meant to soften hard floors for kids.
I have cut a piece slightly smaller than the size of the stack of paper to not interfere with the seat occupancy sensor cable, removed the paper stack and slipped this in under the seat in it's place. It's sitting between the springs at the bottom of the seat that the stock pad sits on and the stock seat bottom cushion.
It is significantly better for me than stock or the paper pad. I feel I'm lifted up a bit in the back compared to the stack of paper I had but also feel like it's got a bit more give than the paper alone. This lifts up the center rear butt portion of the seat without lifting up the bolster padding to help relieve that pinching wallet-in-the-pocket feeling. And it's definitely helping for that!
As a result I've made some more seat adjustments:
- elevated the seat bottom
- tinkered with the back-rest angle to try and find a comfortable spot near the 110 degree angle mark that's claimed to be optimal
- extended the lumbar support more than I had before
I can now get through my 1hr ish commute without significant discomfort and with only minor changes to my position throughout my drive. I'm still not at the set it and forget it, cruise all day with no issues position I had in my last car ('18 Mazda 6) but I think it's progress. I feel like I need to try to keep tinkering but I'm at a point where I'm afraid to make it worse lol.
Zer0Her0
Member
or test drive many times before you purchase the car, so that you don't have to hack your $50k brand new car.
I have seen the post on that one. That's going to be my next step if what I've done so far doesn't pan out. I want to give it a good couple of weeks worth of a chance to adjust before I go there.
At first it was the headrest that caught me off guard. I was worried about it, but I adjusted to it within a week or 2 and I don't even notice it now. I'm kind of hoping I can find that sweet spot over the next little bit.
Rpgonzalez
Member
I can’t find an answer on this. I personally had to ditch my model 3 (2020) due to the seats being really bad (exactly as described by the OP). Hurt my back and legs. I am 6’1” but longer legs, less torso. (And also, the car was too low for my bad back)
I sat in my friends 2023 model y performance yesterday and I am certain that there was a difference…. However if we are going to say that the seats are all exactly the same then maybe it’s because I sat in it for maybe 30 seconds max and his is brand new. Maybe I started having problems later on….
fholbert
Active Member
When I was shopping for a Tesla earlier this year. Two different people (both over 6') told me they had given the Model 3 to their wife because it was too hard to get in and out of, the wife's loved them. One said, go to the lot, get in and out 3 or 4 times (I'm 6'-2"), I saw the issue and put a deposit on a Model Y that night.
The Model Y seats are not great, but I wouldn't call them uncomfortable. They adjust to any position but a little narrow in the butt. I found, take my wallet out of my back pocket and it's acceptable.
The Model Y seats are not great, but I wouldn't call them uncomfortable. They adjust to any position but a little narrow in the butt. I found, take my wallet out of my back pocket and it's acceptable.
I test drove a model Y the other day and I was so appalled with seats, I had to check if it's just me.
My friend has a M3 and it was very comfortable while this one feels like it's a M3 with 10" rails under front seats, very short seat base and bolsters that act like a vice sweating my back.
I currently drive a Skoda Enyaq and while seats there don't offer so much support, the base is longer and the seat feels wider.
Also I could not get a finger on what is wrong with MY until I raised my seat in Skoda and then it felt the same awkwardness of driving.
It can't be just because it's high as I used to own higher cars (Ford S-Max) but none felt like it's a standard car with a very high seat. It feels like the dash is the same or hasn't been raised as high as seats.
Also the rear seats feel like it's straight from the model 3, so rear passengers sit far lower. It feels like my kids are sitting on the floor and I can't see them in the rearview mirror.
Does anyone have a link to the post about the seat modification?
My friend has a M3 and it was very comfortable while this one feels like it's a M3 with 10" rails under front seats, very short seat base and bolsters that act like a vice sweating my back.
I currently drive a Skoda Enyaq and while seats there don't offer so much support, the base is longer and the seat feels wider.
Also I could not get a finger on what is wrong with MY until I raised my seat in Skoda and then it felt the same awkwardness of driving.
It can't be just because it's high as I used to own higher cars (Ford S-Max) but none felt like it's a standard car with a very high seat. It feels like the dash is the same or hasn't been raised as high as seats.
Also the rear seats feel like it's straight from the model 3, so rear passengers sit far lower. It feels like my kids are sitting on the floor and I can't see them in the rearview mirror.
Does anyone have a link to the post about the seat modification?
I found the Model 3 hard to get in and out of with the low seating and low roof. Still, back in early 2019, I was so enamored during a test drive that I ordered one the minute we got back to the showroom. I went back out to sit in a floor model and in doing so, ripped the side pillar cover off the pillar. It was then that the salesperson chose to tell me that the MY was in the works. Well after researching it for a few weeks, I took a hit on the $100 deposit and let the 3 go, with the intention to get the Y once released. Well, Covid came and prices rose to the ridiculous, so it was only this past Feb that I got the Y.
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