Replacement of Factory Front Seats

Hi everyone, just joined up and am the happy new owner of a new 04 Silver Prius. Love the car but MUST take out the factory seats and install a set of Recaros I have from my old car (99 Audi Avant A4), not so much for reasons of performance as for height -- I like my seats LOW and am 6' 1". The Recaros do the trick.

There are no brackets out there for any Recaros, and I assume it's the case for all aftermarket sport seats and the 04 Prius at this relatively early point, but my main concern is dealing with the in-seat airbags and the "seat position sensors" to fool the car into not disabling the entire airbag system. I went down this road with the Audi, finally taking the seat airbags out of the factory seats, connecting their wires up, and keeping them loose under the seats. Worked fine for four years.

Any thoughts out there?

Thanks much -- Mike Light/San Francisco

 

Thanks -- a very good suggestion. I realize most people don't have a problem with the seats, but I do -- not so much a question of headroom at 6'1" (there's plenty), but rather one of visibility: as cars have gotten more and more aerodynamic their windshields have gotten flatter and flatter, and the effective visbility less and less. The Prius is, naturally, an extreme example of this trend. If one lowers the body by adjustable seats, or by seat replacement with thin seats like Recaros, the vis increases measurably and the car is that much more pleasurable to drive.

For all those crash-safety scolds out there, I am well aware that messing with the airbag system is not desirable, but it's worth it to me in this case to render ineffective the seat airbags and get the better riding position. The crux of the airbag sytem is the front bags, and these will remain untouched.

Believe me, if I could have gotten my car without the seat bags, I would have, but was informed by my dealer that that base option package was no longer available here in San Francisco. So here I am, a happy owner, but headed to a mod one way or another. Height adjustable seats would be a very big help.

 

Currently the height of the seat has me looking outwards at the very top side of the windshield, where all sky and higher items are cut off -- rather like a horizontal slit. This effect, as I mentioned, is more and more common as cars get more and more aerodynamic. My best view is of the hood, which I don't need to see.

At least the Prius does not have a tinted strip at the top of the windshield, which makes it even worse as it's directly in my field of view.

Certainly one can recline the seat backwards and effectively lower one's height, but that has awkwardnesses of its own.

Ideally, as cars become more and more aerodynamic and dashboards lengthen and windshields get ever closer to the head, what I'd like to see is a totally transparent roof, which one could pull an inside curtain up and around to adjust the "height" or aperture of the windshield, so to speak. More sky and air and view, or less, depending on one's height and desire.

Technically challenging, I know. But why not dream about further advancements to the most advanced vehicle out there? The ergonomics of the Prius could be improved, and height adjustable seats would be a big help. If they exist stock in whatever country I'll find them and put em in. If not, then it's mod time. Ugh. I really wanted the plain seats without airbags, but no dice apparently -- Toyota stopped making that base package available, at least here in Prius-Wild SF.