Lower back pain from seats becoming intolerable

For me personally, I don't think Honda gets the lumbar position correct on its seats, and the power seats do not adjust lumbar support as far 'off' as the seats with manual lumbar. One reason I preferred the cloth seats is that I felt the lumbar support on the RTL-T and was afraid it would be an issue in the future.

I had the same issue with my 2007 TL. After about an hour in that seat I had to stop. I did not have problems in the identical-other-than-lumbar passenger seat if my wife drove (although onerailunder has a point maybe there might have been something with the dead pedal or steering wheel angle causing the issue). I loved how the TL looked and drove but after 4 years I never found a comfortable seating position - trading for my 2013 Accord Sport was the greatest day of my backs life. Around the same time I test drove a 2012 Pilot and a 2010 MDX and felt the same lumbar pressure so we didn't buy it.

In the last 5 years I have driven 9-12 hours straight (other than fuel stops) in my wife's RAV4, my S2000 (which I have one position where I fit), my 2013 Accord, and multiple rental cars (Fusion, Elantra, CX-5, Equinox) without any problems at all so it isn't my back.

erikras, If your dealer has an RTS/RT or a base Pilot on the lot with manual seats, take it for a test drive and see if your back agrees.

Thank you for the overwhelming number of responses and advice!

A couple key points I want to address:

First, I don't think the suspension has anything to do with it. My last car was a 2013 VW GTI with 225/40R18's, Bilstein coilovers, solid urethane suspension bushings, and 28/24mm solid sway bars. I could drive the thing for hours with no issues. Keep in mind, this was just a month ago.

Second, I think the only car I've owned with softer seats was my '06 Acura TSX that I daily drove from Nov until April this past winter. I prefer a firmer seat cushion.

This morning I lifted the seat almost as high as it would go, moved it forward a bit, and reclined it slightly more than normal. I probably spent a total of about an hour and a half in the truck today and it seems to have helped some. I have a habbit of firmly planting my left foot on the dead pedal in whatever car I'm driving. Being that the Ridgeline has a higher dead pedal than any car I've owned, I'm thinking that may be part of my issue. With the seat adjusted the way it was today, it seems to help by keeping my left and right feet more even. I especially paid attention today to make sure I wasn't applying any real pressure to the dead pedal with my left foot. Tomorrow, I'm going to try reclining the seat a bit more. Unfortunately, I already have the telescoping steering wheel as far out as it goes so I'm not sure how much more I can recline the seat and still reach it comfortably.

I found a thread on here where G1 owners are calling their dead pedal the "plastic tower of pain." Fortunately for them, the PoS piece of plastic is removable in the G1. I looked at my truck tonight, and the dead pedal appears to be a thing plastic piece adhered to the carpet. I didn't pull off the plastic trim, but feeling behind the carpet, it doesn't feel like there's anything removable behind there. There appears to be sound insulation attached to the backside of the carpet.

I'll never understand why auto manufacturers put these stupid things in cars. I have always suspected it has to do with keeping drivers from "locking" their knees to prevent injury in crashes. That's just a guess.

I love my G1, but the leather seats are very painful on long drives. It appears to be due to the firmness of the seat padding, the seat heater, and the positioning of the seam in the bottom portion of the seat --- makes a hard "ridge" that just kills my hips. It has been OK for my lower back, but I end up doing a lot of squirming around due to the positioning of the lumbar support. The Gen 2 seats seem to be better but still on the firm side.

Gen 2 or Gen 1 owners who are suffering from lower back pain while driving their Ridgelines and attribute it to the seats, might actually be suffering from TIBS (Trunk Induced Back Spankage). Although the trunk is one of the most useful and versatile features of the Ridgeline, bending forward and down to get stuff in/out of it are lower back killers, particularly if you are twisting at all while doing so. That position and motion put tremendous stress on the lumbar discs, and if you already have a problem brewing (such as degenerative disk disease), just reaching in there and lifting something out might be enough to leave you aching. Lifting out something fairly heavy might leave you with a herniated disk that can inflict unbelievable long-term pain and ruination.

If you watch people using the trunk on the Ridgeline, you may notice that if there is anything mounted in the hitch receptacle, that people tend to open the trunk and will put stuff in from the right side because that's where the handle is. Then instead of straddling the hitch receptacle so they are square to the trunk, they will end up facing it on a bit of a diagonal so that when they bend down they are rotating their back a bit. Picking up even a few pounds this way can leave some folks hurting - it's a chiropractor bill waiting to happen.

An annoying feature of back injuries from such motions, is that unless the disk herniates badly there might not be any immediately obvious pain. Instead you end up with a barely noticeable feeling of tightness that slowly ramps up into throbbing pain especially if you are sitting. Then when you stand up or move around, it might realign things enough that the pain subsides ---- or if you are unlucky it might immediately get worse. The delay between the injury and the pain can make it tough to identify what caused it. If you are one of the unlucky few to have persistent back problems though, you may become very alert to that feeling of tightness and learn what sets it off.

One thing you might try, is one of those wedge-shaped pads that they sell at the "Relax Your Back" store and similar places. You sit on the thicker part with the thin part under your thighs, and it will generally have a cutout in the rear for the tailbone. Some folks get significant relief from using them. Good luck!!

i can tell you from experience that everyone is different. I bought the 16 Tacoma last December and traded in my 15 Tundra crew 4x4. After 1 moth my neck and lower back and leg was killing me. I loved that truck otherwise and want another still but I am in my truck 700 miles a week and it hurt. I now wonder if id of stuck with it that maybe I would of gotten used to it. Seat was comfortable not hard but the position you sit and no up or down or tilt adjustments it didn't work. sold it end of January. May others have no issues and love them and run for hours in them a day and travel hundreds of miles on trips. I ended up now with a 16 Colorado diesel z71 and have had it now for 8 months and 22400 miles on it already. Seats are little hard still but I added Katskin leather and that helped and I am pretty good now in it. I test drove the new Ridgle a few times and ordered one last Saturday and should be in in late Feb. It was real comfortable to me but that was just test drive so hope it wont be issue. I did have issues in my 09 but lived with it for 5 years 155k miles but it was seat position how I sit in it mostly. Seams this rtl sits good from test but from experience like the 16 Tacoma it might just be how your body position is and it don't work. Like I said I still like the Tacoma looks and stuff but I hurt me. Hopeully you can find right seat position and that fixes it because this rtl is the best riding of all the midsized.