Replacing Gen 2 Front Seat - I Offer Some Side Airbag Clarification

@ cycledrum

Hi and thank you for posted pics and ideas.
I have the same problem as you with my 2008 prius, and would like to mod my seat just like you.
Can you please post more info on your mod like:

-What parts did you use?

-How long did it take?

-Details on process itself?

-And some pics if you have any?

Thanks a lot

 

Check out the site Home See if he's still making the extender brackets.

I that doesn't suit you, look into a replacement seat like a Recaro. Don't let them mod the original seat because they are very expensive and you'd need to pop it back in to sell the car.

I did a big kahuna mod of making a Prius seat using a Corolla frame. Tons of work and money and I still sold the car in January. I don't recommend it, but there's lots of pics, search 'making a height adjustable driver's seat'

Last resort, change cars. This 2nd gen Prius sure seems designed for the JDM (Japanese Domestic Market). Can you believe Japan got a height adjustable seat in 2nd gen? It's true.

Personally, I'd like to see a 'ToyHonda Prisight'. Give us the Prius drivetrain, features and Honda's style and seating ergonomics. That would rock

 

Two questions:

If you replace the seat with an aftermarket one without sideairbag, does the airbag lamp gonna light up?

And are the "seatbelt hook" mounted on the seat?

 

I cant help thinking there isnt another way to approach this. Airbags etc aside, there must be seats out there that are comfortable, have height, lumbar, tilt adjustment that would be suitable in a Prius.

Rather than grafting frames together to fit the Prius floor mounted base, why wouldnt you just take the seat and seat base out of a donor or wrecked car such as cars we already know have good seats, BMW and VW etc, probably all manual adjust, and insert the whole caboodle into a Prius. Then screw the thing down properly and adequately with some suitable high grade fasteners.

Buying seats like this costs several hundreds of dollars vs thousands for Recaro's, and surely avoids a lot of the difficulty in grafting seat and seat frame together. What you need to be careful about is that the range of adjustment is going to work for you

Perhaps its possible to replace the BMW seat side airbag with the one out of your Prius seat, and rewire it in the existing Prius wiring found at the seat base.

 

Be sure you know from experience that the seat you are choosing is comfortable. We have a 2014 BMW X1 and I find the driver seat to be shockingly more uncomfortable on a long trip than the Prius (same issues - hard seat/minimal lumbar support even with the adjustments available). Would be quite aggravating to swap an uncomfortable seat with an uncomfortable seat.