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$900 lumbar support repair???

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by joybird, Nov 11, 2013.

  1. joybird

    joybird New Member

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    Hello.

    First of all, thank you to the folks who make this forum such a great resource. I'm about to become a first-time Prius owner, and this place has been invaluable as I researched this purchase.

    I'm hoping that folks here can offer me some good advice/tips on a problem. (And please forgive me if I'm posting in the wrong forum. :unsure: )

    The car that I'm (scheduled to) buy on Wednesday is a 2010 Prius 4 with 48K miles. It's in good shape, one owner, dealer-maintained, all the records, etc. The problem is that the motorized lumbar support is malfunctioning...and because of my back issues, this feature is important to me. Much more important than the satellite radio and other bells and whistles the car comes with.

    At my request, the owner took it to their Toyota dealer today. $100 in diagnosing fees later, they were told that the gears in the support mechanism are shot (they make a terrible grinding noise, and the support doesn't expand as it is supposed to) -- and that it will cost $900 (!) to repair it.

    Ack.

    I'm not sure what options I have for fixing this. Would it be cheaper to just buy and install a replacement seat? Any ideas of how much those might run? (I'm a bit scared to look for a salvage seat since I'd be concerned that the airbag might not be good.)

    Any ideas or suggestions would be very welcomed....

    Thanks!
     
  2. ny_rob

    ny_rob Senior Member

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    Ask the owner to split the cost of repair with you?
     
  3. joybird

    joybird New Member

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    Thanks for responding.

    Yeah, I will probably do something like that, but I'd first like to figure out if there is a way to fix this problem for less than $900... No point in having either the seller or me take so big a hit if it can be avoided.
     
  4. Mike500

    Mike500 Senior Member

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    I'd just buy a lumbar cushion, try it out, and when you're satisfied, put a seat cover over it or have an upholsterer pull back the OEM seat back cover and place it there.

    $900 is ridiculous.
     
  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    if you have a bad back, be very, very careful. there are many complaints here from people who just cannot live with the prius seat, lumbar support or no. there are threads here from people who wish they could return or sell their brand new prius because of the drivers seat. don't make a purchase you may regret. all the best!(y)
     
  6. JMD

    JMD 2012 Prius 4 Solar Roof

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  7. JMD

    JMD 2012 Prius 4 Solar Roof

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    Just thinking that you can buy a salvage seat and have a independent repair shop install. It may be less than $900.

    Than again the independent shop may repair for less than the dealer

    Just getting a lumbar support at the back store costs about $30
     
  8. joybird

    joybird New Member

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    Thanks for the link. I've tried a number of products in the past but one of the things that appealed to me about the higher-end Prius seat is the ease of changing the amount of lumbar support on-the-fly. I find that my back's needs can be different from day to day (or hour to hour). Though not as convenient as the push-button ease of the Prius seat, I guess it is possible that one of the inflatables on your site might be a bit more versatile than the fixed supports I've used. I'll can certainly look into that.

    Still, my ideal would be to find a way to get a Prius seat that works. The seat was really the primary reason I even considered getting a Four. Though this car seems to otherwise a good deal for a Four (they were asking $16.5), I'm wondering now if I should just pass on it. If I'm going to have to jerry-rig a lumbar support, I could probably do that in a Three or a Two and not be paying for other features that I don't really need.

    Does anyone know if one can install a Four/Five driver seat in a Two or a Three and still have the features work? I've been assuming you can't, or Toyota would have made the leather seats an upgrade option for the lower trim models, right?
     
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  9. JMD

    JMD 2012 Prius 4 Solar Roof

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    Ok I have the 2012 Prius 4 with the lumbar support imitation leader seat.

    It does not work well.

    My previous car was a BMW 325 with the Premium Package. That was the 16 way adjustable seats with lumbar. Much better than the Prius.

    I'm just saying that if you spend that much dollars and get it fixed you may be disappointed. Maybe the next time your at the dealer test the lumbar in a new car to see how good or not so good it may be.

    I know plenty of people upgrade to Clazzio seats after market. They offer leather and heated seats but no lumbar.

    Toyota Prius Seat Covers - Clazzio Seat Covers
     
  10. JMD

    JMD 2012 Prius 4 Solar Roof

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    So many posters complain about the Prius seats on the lower models. The Prius 4 and 5 have less complaints but I can say the lumbar is hard and not soft. It feels like a rock or baseball in your back. You should test it out to see if you like it or rent a Prius 4 from the dealer for a day and drive the car and see if the seats are comfortable.

    Hate to see you spend thousands and not be comfortable.

    My opinion is the seats are comfortable for long drives. The lumbar feels like a base ball I never use it. The heated seats are fantastic in the winter. The seats are not as comfortable ad my BMW but I knew that since the price point is much different. The BMW forced a liquid into a sack in the seat. Very comfortable. Prius no liquid. Just a hard shell.

    My BMW was a money pit. Great car to lease and hand it in is my opinion. Stuff always breaks and cost a fortune to fix that's why you don't want to own it beyond the warranty.

    Prius is a reliable car much better user experience. Great on mileage.

    Always makes sense to test the seats for yourself before signing on the dotted line
     
  11. joybird

    joybird New Member

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    Thanks for the concern, feedback and sharing your first-hand experience. (y)

    After I test-drove this particular Prius and discovered the malfunctioning support, I went to a dealer to go sit in a 2013 that had the lumbar feature so that I could see what it was *supposed* to be like and whether it was worth pushing the owner to see about getting the seat fixed. Yes, it was pretty firm, but it seemed comfortable to me. Of course, I was not sitting in the car the whole day... It never occurred to me that you could rent a car from the dealer! The closest I was able to do was to borrow a friend's 2006 for a day, and although it only had the basic, cloth seats, it was still SO much more *adjustable* and comfortable than the seats in my current car (an old '91 Honda CRX HF that still gets about 42-48 mpg...but kills my back regardless of the positioning aids I've tried) that I decided to go ahead and find a Prius.

    I'll make some phone calls today to inquire about salvage seat availability/cost. Even if I decide not to actually make the modification on this car, it would be good to go into my final negotiations with the owner knowing what it would cost.
     
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  12. JMD

    JMD 2012 Prius 4 Solar Roof

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    Let us know how it works out
     
  13. HprDad

    HprDad Junior Member

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    The adjustable lumbar in the "Four" model works great for me, and I'm picky about decent lumbar support, with a long commute, and some back issues in the past. It's the #1 reason I moved up to this model.
     
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  14. joybird

    joybird New Member

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    Well, I'm now the proud owner of a new-to-me 2010 Prius IV. :)

    Unfortunately, in the time frame I had to work with, I was unable to get a good alternative quote on a repair, or even on a replacement seat. But the seller came down a bit in price and I decided to go for it and trust that I'll be able to figure out the rest later.

    I may even decide to poke around in the upholstery myself to see if I (or a mechanical genius friend of mine) can figure out a way to fix or replace the gear in the mechanism that sounds like it isn't engaging properly. We'll see.

    I found one non-dealer repair shop that was willing to take a look at the seat and give me another estimate, although they didn't sound hopeful that it would be much cheaper for them to do the work; they said that while their labor is cheaper than the dealer, they apparently can't get the parts for the same price the dealer can. In fact, they said they can't even order replacement seat because Toyota will only sell them individual seat components, and then they'd have to put a seat together! (Huh?) And, ironically, the component list they have from Toyota didn't include the lumbar support mechanism. o_O

    I called a few salvage yards to see about getting a salvage seat, but no one has one right now. I was also advised by the guy in the shop above-mentioned shop that a salvage seat might not be a good idea because of the risk of a non-working airbag. He said that they would have no way to know the airbag wasn't working until they had purchased and installed the seat -- which I'd have to pay for even if they had to pull the seat back out again. And that if the airbag sensor indicates that the airbag is no good, it turns off ALL the airbags in the car. (Huh again? Really? You can't just disable one of the airbag sensors? Really?)

    For now, I'm going to try the seat as is, and using inspiration (thanks JMD!) from both this


    and the thermarest lumbar pillow (which I read about elsewhere on the chat), I'm going to start experimenting with using my blood-pressure cuff as a lumbar support and see if the adjustable pressure from that does the trick.

    Thanks again for the feedback.
     
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  15. joybird

    joybird New Member

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    Hmmm. Looks like the site edited out the link I'd included in that post? I was trying to link to the healthyback dot com site that JMD had recommended. It has a couple of inflatable supports which, rather than just being static blow-up pillows, instead use a one-handed bulb-pump/valve combo (like blood pressure cuffs have) so that you can easily change the amount of air on-the-fly. (For those who are curious, one is called the "Companion Portable Neck and Back Support", and the other is the "Flexor Pro Active Back Support".)

    Seems to me that kind of easily-adjustible inflatable could approximate what the motorized support does...and for a lot less than $900.

    I'll report back again after I've done a bit of experimenting.
     
  16. JMD

    JMD 2012 Prius 4 Solar Roof

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    Congrats Joybird wise decision. Best of luck and happy motoring !!!