Making a Height Adjustable Driver's Seat for 2009 Prius

Stuffing (very carefully) the seatback foam and cover on. Airbag, brackets, etc... all attached.



... and it's one height adjustable Prius driver's seat. Weighed myself then held the seat twice, weighed. It's about 41 to 42 lbs. Stock Prius seat weighed in at 39 lbs once upon a time.



:cheer2:

 

Heard that, except it's raining cats and dogs outside and I'm off to work in 15 min. Hang tight.

 

Bolted and plugged in just fine. There was just enough clearance for the middle connector over the Nav unit shroud.

No warning lights on the dash. Had to readjust the heck out of the rearview mirror, but that's a good thing. I might even flip the rearview mirror rightside up again.

My comments are just preliminary since the true test is over time. But, the best thing is that I can see so much better while driving. The field of view is greatly improved.

Can't get the mondo legroom of the 2010 Prius because of lack of telescopic wheel.

I won't be putting the stock Prius seat back in. I'll be cursing at it a lot less now that the pain of this project is over.

 

Added a lengthy background 'read' in first post.

Of note, with the height adjuster, can make very fine, small adjustments to the seat position, sort of like a power seat.

 

Sweeet!

I just gave away all the excess foam, fabric and trim to an upholstery shop. They were happy to get it and I was happy to give it away.

Two seat frames went to metal recyclers yesterday, so all the junk is out of the house.

Cool

Trivia - the vast majority of seat weight is in the metal frames. The foam and fabric weigh little.

 

dupe post deleted.

 

One more thing ... the upholstery shop co-owner said he's had several calls from people complaining about the Gen2 seat(s) since I last talked to him a couple months ago.

Well, that's a shocker ...

 

I'm pretty darn sure my stereo system sounds better now to me and it makes sense as I'm down more in the sound field.

 

So, is anybody interested in hearing some kind of review of this custom hybrid Prius/Corolla seat, or are you all just sick of hearing about it already?

 

I'll try to be as objective as I can since I've been subjective after other seat mods and have claimed like 'wow, it's great' only to bitch a month later and say I need to do another mod.

Some facts -

0) This combination of modifications is a big improvement in comfort. I rate the original seat(ing) about 5/10 for me. The seating is now about 7.5 / 10. 2010 Prius is about 8.5/10, VW Jettas, BMWs, Lexus' with leather all well into 9's.

1) This seat can slide about 2.5" further back than an original Gen2 Prius driver's seat, or 4 extra clicks.

2) I am using 3 of those available clicks, 1.5" slid further back, so legroom better than stock. sliding back extra helps out.

3) At 3 extra click slid back, I have the height adjuster about 5 cranks up while using Prius seat bottom foam. This puts me a little lower than stock, and very upright seatback makes the steering wheel reach tolerable, but I'd like wheel reach an inch closer. Lowering down helps quite a bit.

3.5) Can fine tune the seat adjustment with height adjuster - there are no clicks, the height adjuster makes a smooth motion up or down for precise adjustments.

4) It would be very nice to have telescopic steering wheel to bring the wheel an inch or so closer, IOW, legroom availability is limited for those with long legs (like 35" inseam).

5) I've always found the VW seats, especially Jettas with leather to be very good and comfortable and they are a reference for what really good seating is like.

6) I am getting used to seeing over the hood now. I have to lean up a little while pulling into the garage to line up well.

7) The view in all directions is remarkably better.

8) I had my original, unmodified Prius driver's seat in the car from about Jan 1st to the 19th. Awful driving the car with that seat, and I did not take the car to work. The original seat lives in a room in the house and will be there until the car is sold.

9) As recent as Nov. 2009, I said I should only do this major mod. if in between jobs with lots of time and money. It couldn't wait.

10) Doubt I need to do any more mods to the seat, and I'm really picky with high expectations of how a seat should be in a $30k car.

11) I PM'd Solar_Powered a month ago, who did his hybrid Prius/Corolla seat mod in 2005. He said the seat is holding up just fine and wished me luck with mine.

12) Sitting in many other cars, usually at Toyota, Honda, VW and Mazda dealers was a great help to find out what I like in a seat and don't like.

13) Very wise to obtain a good, used Prius driver's seat to use for parts. Toyota will not take a trade-in car with modifed seat. Too much liability selling a car with a modified seat. Re-install original seat before selling.

14) Once you start building better, modified seats for your car, you likely won't want to drive with the original seat anymore.

15) Six months ago I said I couldn't or wouldn't do this modification.

16) I'm feeling better and more rested a week after finishing this mod. I was cranky this past week, hence the harsh words I had in the first post for a while.

17) The 2010 Prius driver's seating is positively better. It has telescopic steering wheel and a larger seat frame, so one could never match the 2010's seating in a 04 - 09 Prius.

18) If someone claimed they finished this mod in a weekend, they're probably lying

 

Takes a couple days to have a shop fab a set of extender braces. I just gave my metal shop dude a basic drawing. Couple more days to sand, drill, bolt, set the frame in car on the Prius mount feet. Maybe 4 days extra.

In 2005, Solar_Powered determined the 05 Corolla frame was the best to use. 05 - 08 frame is compatible, but not the 09 Corolla, it's totally different. The 2003 and 04 Corolla's had a round knob for seat bottom adjustment, not compatible with the Prius.

jelloslug blended a Prius and Corolla seat in 2/2008 for height adjust. There's another guy who did it too in 2/08, forgot his name.

My Spectra Blue should have dark Gray trim. I got light Gray trim from the Corolla seat. I think the S model Corolla trim is darker than Prius dark Gray. Not sure. The seat's all covered up with sheepskin cover, so trim color doesn't matter.

Lot of variation in seat frames among Toyota/Lexus cars. I trust Solar_Powered's word that 2005 - 08 Corolla seat frame is most similar. 09+ is totally different.

I placed a Corolla seat in my car May '09 by just bolting Prius feet on. Only sat in it for like 10 minutes. Was looking for an easy, quicker mod, so did only remount mod with Prius seat.



If you get a good, clean, straight Corolla seat/frame, keep it, they are tough to find. I turned this one into a welding practice seat last May. Tossed it out later. Bad move. I thought they were easy to find. I called one day and there it was 5 miles away. Pure luck it was.

 

That Corolla seat, from an '07 LE model had no side seat airbag. Even if one changed the connectors to plug into the car wire harness, you'd be left with an airbag warning light on the dash

I never found a used 2005 - 2008 Corolla seat with airbag, but I understand it was an option on some of the Corollas. I don't know if the seat connectors / wiring would be compatible with a Prius.

To put a Corolla seat in a Prius, you would still need to knock the Corolla mount feet off and buy a used Prius seat to get its mount feet as Toyota never sells the mount feet separately. They only sell frames for non-airbag seats as a whole unit, except plastic trim parts sold separately.

For those who want(ed) to sit lower, it was a huge problem not getting it in the 04 - 09 models.

 

Some more facts that will be obvious to a number of people around here -

With all the modifications, the driver seating is not quite as good as a 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid or 2010 Insight, or 2010 Prius due to lack of telescopic steering wheel in the 2009 Prius.