Anyone change the seats?

[Corey]

I drive lots of miles per month and the stock insight seats are killing my back. I have a 1998 Civic that I find more comfortable and wish the insight seats could offer more support. Anyone swap out the seats for another Honda or even aftermarket ones.

I have to find some type of solution to fix my back

Thanks

[green1]

This is not an answer. I'm wondering if we have found good seat covers for the car seats? My seat's covering is wearing out.

[Willie Williford]

Bottom line is: You can put any seat in any car. It all depends what kind of modifications you want to do and the drawbacks (weight). I guess it all depends in the comfort "zone" you are looking for.
There are many post about seat covers for the Insight on this site. Most Insighters prefer the Oakles but thay also wear (Drivers side/Bolster area). This is the same area that the stock drivers seat wears.

Willie

[Patrickmilburn]

I like the Wet Okale's in my car. The extra padding in the covers does a fine job of smoothing out vibrations and harshness that is transmitted through the stock seat. They are even available with an inflatable lumber support option.

I'd rather the bolster area in the Wet Okale seat covers wear out than my original upholstery that's protected underneath them!

[Corey]

I have custom covers on my seats but they don't work for my back. I'm looking to see if anyone has changed out the actual seats. If push comes to shove, I may just remove one of my Civic seats and see if they fit the insight.

[budomove]

the rails will not line up, and will require fabrication. Also the height may be an issue if you are tall, and the seats you use are too high. The honda s2000 seats will fit and afaik do not require fabrication. I do not know how much more support they will give, so maybe find a local s2000 and sit in it to see. The wet okoles help a little, as I have a severe L4-L5 disc herniation. The lumbar support that are a $40 per seat option are awful, and a waste of money.
Frank

[editor at autospeed]

I am currently fitting seats from a Vectra to my Insight. This requires fabrication of brackets.

The Insight is difficult because of the seatbelt attachments to both sides of the seat. I looked at a lot of seats from other cars and apart from S2000 seats (too expensive), I could find only Opel (Holden) Vectra and Astra seats that had dual seat belt attachments. Obviously you need seats that are sufficiently strong to handle crash seat belt loads.

The brackets for the seat mounting need to be very good because of the fact that they're effectively seat belt mounts. I am using 40 x 40 x 6mm angle and 40 x 8mm bar, both in mild steel. The bolts are 10mm and 8mm high tensile Allen key bolts, used with hardened steel washers and high tensile nuts. If you think of a 20g crash stop, you’re talking about loads of 2000kg into these mounts. (To put it another way, any of the three seat belt mounts should be strong enough to lift the Insight.)

It's also easy to end up with the new seats too high - head clearance is an issue. That said, I have one side nearly complete and I will finish the other side today.

The Insight seat weighs 14.4kg and the Vectra seats weigh 17.8kg (not including the new brackets). The new seats have much better padding (especially under the bum), are leather-faced, and have lumbar and height adjustment. The ones I have are also fitted with seat heaters (not needed where I live – I use the heater only about 5 times a year). I am also going to end up with a little more legroom than standard.

I am very experienced at fabrication and car modification but putting in the new seats is still a big job, primarily because of the seatbelt implications. Also because of these, there are likely to be insurance and legal implications for such a swap. Where I live I can have the finished installation inspected and then approved.

I will be covering the step by step of installing the seats in an AutoSpeed article, but it won’t appear for a few months.

[Normand]

I have change the drivers seat to a Recaro sport seat i got a few years back.

[editor at autospeed]

Did the Recaro seat have the facility for two seatbelt anchorages?

[Aaron Cake]

The belt anchors shouldn't be too big of a problem. A nut welded into the bracket reinforced with the appropriate plate will do the job. Now, whether it would pass the appropriate inspections is another question.