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Extending the depth of the driver seat

Discussion in 'Gen 4 Prius Accessories and Modifications' started by spencerb, Mar 1, 2017.

  1. spencerb

    spencerb New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2017
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    Location:
    Loveland OH
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius
    Model:
    Four Touring
    I am 6'4" . Traded in my 2011 Cadillac Srx for my new 2017 Prius Touring 4 hatchback. The Cad had a cool feature for my height. On the front edge base part of the driver's seat, there was a manual pull out that made the seat deeper front to back. This was about 3" in from both sides of the seat base.
    This provided about 3" deeper support for my long legs. This made a world of difference for comfort with that added support.

    I thought about doing the same for my brand new Prius.
    There's a plastic piece in the front of the seat that has "brackets" to the left towards the door and on the right towards the console. I believe it is just a pop-in/pop-out piece of plastic (It's not held in place by screws I don't think). In other scenario below, this plastic piece would need to be extended out in some way. Fabrication of a plastic form would need to happen.

    The Softex fabric from the bottom of the seat is either glued in place or more likely stitched up into the bottom part of the metal mesh of the seat.

    I thought of 2 possible solutions to extend the seat so it is a deeper seat and provides me with more support under my legs instead of them hanging out in space.

    This is a more complicated work around and probably much more expensive one.
    1. Have some type of hard service such as wood/aluminum or more likely another piece of wire mesh like the seat has and put slide out brackets on it with appropriately sized slider brackets in the current seat. Add cushion to this. Unstitch the current Softex from underneath bottom of seat. Probably need to cut and reshape current Softex fabric so it is extended out and add extra fabric between seat and the pull-out extender so there is unbroken fabric. Would need to add a "release" button to manipulate the extender piece from the slide on the bottom of the seat.
    This option would add a great deal of complexity to the solution. It would make the depth flexible so different drivers could make appropriate adjustments for their length of legs. But, I will probably be the driver of this vehicle at least 98-99% of the time. This brings me to the more viable solution.

    2. Don't make the extension as a sliding piece. Make it fixed. There's at least 3-4" of the seat that is above the black plastic piece. Remove the plastic piece to get to the fabric's connection. Unstitch and reshape the fabric. Add more fabric so it makes the seat depth 3-4" (guess on what I need for support). Under that fabric use new mesh seat base to connect/tie in to current seat base, add significant rounded cushion on top, add the new fabric to reshape correctly and stitch it. Reattach the fabric (now longer) to the bottom of the seat and put the plastic piece back in place. There should not be a reason to have to cut that or make an extender for it.
    The new "piece" would extend out beyond the black plastic but should be rather stiff and supportive since it has mesh as its base. 3-4" should still stand up and last a long time.

    Suggestions, thoughts, anything else on these 2 options?
    Thanks in advance.
    Spencer
     
    BLITZ XW50 likes this.
  2. BLITZ XW50

    BLITZ XW50 Member

    Joined:
    Sep 20, 2016
    91
    81
    1
    Location:
    Chicago, IL
    Vehicle:
    2016 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    I'm in to see pics of your progress!
    Would totally love more support under my leg before the knee cap as well. Kudos to you if you proceed with this.
     
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    107,571
    48,862
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    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    congrats and welcome!
    @cycledrum might have some input for you.
    all the best!(y)
     
  4. spencerb

    spencerb New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2017
    4
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    Location:
    Loveland OH
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius
    Model:
    Four Touring
    I am going to have a pro do this since the last thing i want to have happen is for it get totally screwed up. Will update if I am able to find someone who understands what I want and final pricing on it.
     
    BLITZ XW50 likes this.
  5. cycledrum

    cycledrum PSOCSOASP

    Joined:
    Apr 9, 2008
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    Location:
    NorCal
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
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    N/A
    I was able to fashion a seat extension for my 3rd gen Prius. Basically a 2 inch thick piece of rigid foam, about 17" wide that sat on floorboard in front of seat and rested against front edge of seat. Used bungee cord to secure to seat mounting feet. 3g Prius floorboard lip kept the box in place. If 4g Prius doesn't have that floorboard lip, scheme likely won't work.

    Foam box just tall enough to be flush with front edge of seat.

    For top edge of the foam, I used pipe insulation found at any Home Depot, hardware store. Put over top top edge of foam for a cushioned surface. I covered the foam in fabric then covered the pipe insulation with faux leather.

    You could use styrofoam for the box, but you'll want to cover it all in fabirc. Foam factory could cut it to your spec size.

    Good luck
     
    bisco and RCO like this.
  6. spencerb

    spencerb New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2017
    4
    3
    0
    Location:
    Loveland OH
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius
    Model:
    Four Touring
    I found an professional upholstery person who will take care of this issue for me. According to him, this is a very common problem with not only Prius', but also other vehicles. His solution is to slip a formed piece of foam underneath the foam/upholstery/mesh of the existing seat (at the very bottom) that will raise the seat base up and make it comfortable. He gave me a piece of about 2" foam to just put on the seat to try this solution out.

    It works. It raises my legs up and it is very comfortable. He said it should only run from $75-100 to have it done and he would take care of adjusting it until it is done to my satisfaction. He's been doing this most of his life from what I can tell and I have complete faith in his abilities. I need to get it in to have it done soon.

    He had an Austin Healey in his shop when I stopped in last week that he had completely redone the upholstery on it. The car took my breath away. It was somewhere in the range of an early 60's or late 50's convertible. He also had done the top as well. Great job and it was sharp. The only negative was the color that the owner had picked for a racing green sports car. It was some funky dark blue and didn't go with the car's exterior. Not his fault, but the owner who picked the color.
     
    RCO likes this.