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Perfect Position Seat Comfort


Obed96

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We just purchased our 2020 Aviator reserve ll with perfect position seats. I am having a heck of a time getting them adjusted properly. We just got done driving 300 miles on a road trip and my back is hurting right where the seam is located between The upper and lower cushion. My wife had the same issue but not as bad as me.

I have searched high and low, and nobody seems to say anything bad about these seats. Am I crazy?

Any thoughts on how to adjust? I have gone every which way, and have not found the “perfect position”.

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I have them in my Continental and they are among my favorite features.    Yes, it takes awhile to get them adjusted to your liking.    At first, I found that seam to be noticeable.   However, moving the top of the seat forward while reclining the entire back solved that.    Also adding a little bit of lower lumbar can help.   We have driven straight through from Dallas, TX to Minneapolis on a few occasions and arrived with zero complaints about comfort.    A massage every couple of hours feels good, too.

 

My wife and I have totally different preferences regarding seat comfort so the memory function on the driver's side is quite necessary.    I really wish the passenger seat had the memory function.    I takes me a good 10 minutes to undo all of her changes when I become a passenger on long trips.  ☺️ 

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32 minutes ago, Obed96 said:

We just purchased our 2020 Aviator reserve ll with perfect position seats. I am having a heck of a time getting them adjusted properly. We just got done driving 300 miles on a road trip and my back is hurting right where the seam is located between The upper and lower cushion. My wife had the same issue but not as bad as me.

I have searched high and low, and nobody seems to say anything bad about these seats. Am I crazy?

Any thoughts on how to adjust? I have gone every which way, and have not found the “perfect position”.


Did you try adjusting the lumbar support?

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30 minutes ago, brucelinc said:

I have them in my Continental and they are among my favorite features.    Yes, it takes awhile to get them adjusted to your liking.    At first, I found that seam to be noticeable.   However, moving the top of the seat forward while reclining the entire back solved that.    Also adding a little bit of lower lumbar can help.   We have driven straight through from Dallas, TX to Minneapolis on a few occasions and arrived with zero complaints about comfort.    A massage every couple of hours feels good, too.

 

My wife and I have totally different preferences regarding seat comfort so the memory function on the driver's side is quite necessary.    I really wish the passenger seat had the memory function.    I takes me a good 10 minutes to undo all of her changes when I become a passenger on long trips.  ☺️ 

I appreciate the feedback. I have adjusted every which way, but think my back starts to hurt before I find a good position.  By the time that happens, it is too late. I will try this at the start to see if it makes a difference.
 

Our other vehicle is a 2019 RAM 1500 limited with very comfortable seats, but I have noticed that they are vastly different. For example, my upper back and shoulders do not touch the seat when I am driving the truck. My theory is that this forces me to keep my core tighter which reduces fatigue. My contrast, the perfect position seats support almost everything, which may promote “lazy” posture and slouching. 

 

Also, agreed on the passenger memory function. With seats like this it is needed (Doug Demuro said the same thing). 

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22 minutes ago, akirby said:


Did you try adjusting the lumbar support?

Appreciate the advice.  I have tried multiple adjustments with lumbar, but it is usually when I am driving. I think the issue might be that by the time fatigue sets in, it is too late to adjust to find relief. 
 

I need to figure out the proper adjustments to support the spot between my shoulder blades. I’m just not sure how. 

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I never used to test drive most vehicles and never had an issue with seats until we got our 2014 Escape that daughter is currently driving.  Wife test drove it, I didn’t.  It was her vehicle - I already had a 2013 Fusion.  Neither of us tried the passenger seat.  Drivers seat was fine but we hated the passenger seat.  Felt like we were sitting on a phone book.  Since then I’ve test driven and ridden in all the seats before purchasing.

Edited by akirby
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The only problem I had in the Aviator with the perfect position seat was that it wouldn't go low enough (yes there is a difference in max headroom between the PP seats and base 10 way seats).  I didn't have that issue test driving a Navigator.  After sitting in the Aviator and driving it a couple of times I was glad I didn't order one before test driving.  The seats in my Expedition are less comfortable, but I can get the driving position to where I like it and the massage helps on long trips.  Can't wait to drive my Dad's Conti when it arrives to see how the PP seats feel in it.

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We actually had to sell our 2020 Aviator with the "perfect position" seats back to the dealer with less than 500 miles on it and get another one without the "perfect position" seats.  We ended up losing out on about $2000, but in the end to have a car that is comfortable was worth the pain of spending more on the 2nd Aviator.

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It is entirely personal whether a seat is comfortable or not. When I test drive the Aviator, I found it really comfortable. I even brought a ruler with  me to measure the seat width. Since a lot people claim it was narrow. Turn out it was about a inch wider than my Infiniti. 

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5 hours ago, ice-capades said:

After reading the messages in the thread here, I can't help but wonder about whether you actually drove the vehicle at all before buying it. Just wondering from past experience with customers that had buyer's remorse afterwards but never drove the vehicle they took delivery of. 

Good question. I actually drove it for about 30 minutes before buying. Didn’t notice the back fatigue until driving for about an hour. 
 

it’s not terrible, but annoying for a $75k vehicle. I tried searching the internet to see if others are having this issue and could not find one mention. Perhaps it is I that has the issue.?

Edited by Obed96
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1 hour ago, IcemanTX said:

We actually had to sell our 2020 Aviator with the "perfect position" seats back to the dealer with less than 500 miles on it and get another one without the "perfect position" seats.  We ended up losing out on about $2000, but in the end to have a car that is comfortable was worth the pain of spending more on the 2nd Aviator.

I’m curious to know what your issue was. I am having a problem right where the seam is. Doesn’t seem like there is quite enough support in that section (for me). 

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1 hour ago, IcemanTX said:

We actually had to sell our 2020 Aviator with the "perfect position" seats back to the dealer with less than 500 miles on it and get another one without the "perfect position" seats.  We ended up losing out on about $2000, but in the end to have a car that is comfortable was worth the pain of spending more on the 2nd Aviator.

Bummer. I had the same issue with a Kia telluride that I ordered. Seats were so bad that it was causing my rear end to go numb every time that I drove it. Had to get rid of it with less than 500 miles. Fortunately, they are in such high demand that I didn’t lose any money. Ironically, this is what I traded for the Aviator. Perhaps I better just get back in shape and lose this “quarantine 15”...lol. 
 

Also a bit ironic, but we also had a VW Atlas that I had no issues with comfort whatsoever.(even after a 7 hour road trip). 

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22 minutes ago, Obed96 said:

I’m curious to know what your issue was. I am having a problem right where the seam is. Doesn’t seem like there is quite enough support in that section (for me). 

That was the one of the issues for my wife and the height of the seat.  The perfect position seats sit about 2” higher at the lowest position than the regular seats.  The seam in the front middle of the seat is less of an issue with the non perfect position seats though the seats are still not as comfortable for her as the Acadia.  I like them a lot..

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On 10/16/2020 at 5:34 PM, IcemanTX said:

That was the one of the issues for my wife and the height of the seat.  The perfect position seats sit about 2” higher at the lowest position than the regular seats.

Same issue I had. Glad someone else noticed that also and I am not just imagining it. I don't think the dealer believed me when I told them after they first arrived last fall.

Edited by Flying68
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  • 1 year later...
17 minutes ago, Davem64 said:

I too am frustrated with the seat height Is there any way to lower them short of trading vehicle? 

For us, there was no way around the seats being too high.  We had to sell our Aviator back to then purchase another one without the "not so perfect" seats.  We lost about $2k on the swap.

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12 minutes ago, Davem64 said:

I just hoped Ford would have realized the problem and had a remediation.. Guess not..

 

To me, it is a design flaw.  I agree, they should revisit the overall design of the seats as being able to market "30 way perfect position seats" sounds great on paper, not so much in the real world for many people.

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My wife's Aviator has those seats.  Being smaller in stature, she was able to set them exactly as she wanted, as I have not heard her complain--about the seats or the entry height as she prefers to sit up higher, and she's never been shy about making her feelings known.  

 

It does seem to me that both of our vehicles (Aviator and Expedition) could stand a little more cushioning in the seats which I would guess have to be that way to accommodate the cooling feature.  If it's a tradeoff to have cooled seats in AZ, it's something I can live with. 

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  • 1 month later...

Like another poster said, I found that having the top section and headrest all the way forward with the seatback a little more reclined than I'd normally do worked really well. Then play with the different lumbars. 

 

I'm 5'10" and 200lbs-ish and find them superb. Just had a 5 hour trip driving a Cadillac XT 5 and appreciated the Lincoln so much more than before, that caddy is a pos and the seats feel like sitting on a cheap motel spring mattress.

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  • 5 weeks later...

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