Has anyone else tried swapping the passenger and driver's seat? It does seem that they are backwards, with the adjustment levers on the inside of the seats. I have put up with this for years, but with gas $4/gallon I am thinking that I want to keep the Insight as long as possible, and why put up with this forever (or until the battery dies or there is something better).
Why were the seats put in this way to begin with? The map pocket is on the back of the driver's seat (in the U.S.) Here's my guess. The seat with the map pocket and the lever on the right should be the passenger seat in a left hand drive car, then the levers would be on the outside. But in Japan, they use right hand drive. So the seat with the map pocket was put on the left, and the levers end up being on the inside. This does not explain why every other car on the road, except the Insight, got it right. Needless to say, my dealer was not impressed with my logic, and refused to swap the seats at no charge to me.
Problems with swapping the seats that have been mentioned on this thread include: 1) rear bolts may be rusted in place. If I can't get the bolt out with Liquid Wrench and a moderate amount of force, I suppose I would quit at that point. 2) the tracks are different on the two sides. They look the same to me, but if they are different, can't you just move the seat and the tracks to the other side? 3) seat belt attachments are different on the two sides. It looks like the attachments could be unbolted and the attachments put on the correct side.