This adaptation poses some serious safety concerns and Tall.Life will not be held responsible for any resulting injury. Do this adaptation at your own risk. For further info, see the full disclaimer.
Ideally, a tall driver could raise their car seat to make space for their longer legs. However, the limited vertical space within a car means that a tall driver needs to lower their seat. In fact, some tall drivers might even wish for their seat to be even lower than allowed by the built in adjustments.
To test this out, I lowered the seat in my own car by removing the seat cushion (I had to take the seat out of the car to do this) and replacing it with a thin layer of EVA foam (the kind used in garden kneeling pads) and attached a vinyl covering via double sided tape. Please note that it is very difficult to get a seat cushion properly back on after removing it.
The resulting low position has some excellent pros:
As great as this lowered position was, I had to go back to the original seat cushion due to some issues with my hips. If you do try this modification, be mindful how your hips and other parts of your body feel.
What I did was just a test. If I was going to make it more permanent I would have hired an upholsterer or similar to make the modification. I’ve heard there are some places that can just remove some of the foam from the seat.
No matter how you do it, it’s a revolutionary experience to suddenly be at near normal height in a car!
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Bruce Brown December 13, 2013 at 2:11 pm In terms of the seat comfort, that sounds like sort of a bad mod from the get go in an Element. At least in my 2005 Elements, I've got a lot of adjustment with the seat height and actually enjoy jacking mine up quite high in spite of my height. Allows me to rest my arm on the window rest much better and I like the view from "above" as there is plenty of head room. I don't think the steering wheel poor sight line to the speedometer issue is height specific, it's more of a poor design by Honda to begin with, but the good news is that the wheel tilt angle can easily be adjusted on the go so if you are driving in residential speeds, you can tilt the wheel up to see the 25 mph area, and then drop the wheel tilt down when you are going at faster highway speeds to see the top of the speedometer area. Did you have to buy a new seat to get things back together? Have you tried tilting the seat back more, and dropping the wheel tilt all the way down to get "lower". Sort of a like a recumbent bike riding position. That's what works for me, but it also results in poor view of the lower speeds on the speedometer. Not that I care to see the speedometer…
Tall Adaptations December 13, 2013 at 3:06 pm Excellent thoughts! I intended it to be an adaptation not just for the Element, but any car people want to get more headroom in. There may be some huge benefits as mentioned in the post… For me, it allowed me to keep the steering wheel in the top position and still see the entire speedometer without moving the steering wheel. By getting your head into the region intended by the car's designer, this should be the affect. However, results will definitely vary! I have the old cushion just resting on the seat frame (I couldn't get the snaps back on). So people should not take their seat off if they are worried about getting it properly back on. That being said, I really can't tell that I don't have the cushion on properly. When I tilt the seat back, it means I have to hunch in my neck and upper back to get my head vertical, particularly because now the steering wheel is out of reach. I find this to be hard on my upper back. I think an upright position is more conducive to spinal health, though other people feel differently I am sure… Thanks for all the great insight!
Bruce Brown December 14, 2013 at 2:43 am Trust me, getting comfy in my Element has been a nearly futile lesson in terms of the seat comfort, steering wheel tilt, blind spots, vision and what not. My wife hates the car, but my son and I both own 2005 EX's – and we're both tall. Not as tall as you, but I'm 6'4" and have struggled in just about any car. The Element is surprisingly comfortable for me, but I am constantly adjusting the seatback, steering wheel tilt, seat height during longer drives to "mix things up a bit" and make do. The seats are better with seat covers on them and I prefer the steering wheel all the way down in the lowest position which lets me tilt the seat back a bit and still reach it without any issues. I wonder if you could lower yours by a mod to the seat frame itself rather than the cushion? I'm about to tear the seat out of my son's E as his has developed the dreaded rocking and I have a new bushing kit to install to take care of that. I'll take a look at the frame and floor to see if there is a reasonable mod possibility that would lower things an inch or two for you. That being said – it is a pretty comfy truck/car for we tall drinks of water.
Tall Adaptations December 14, 2013 at 4:48 am I tried making lower profile seat brackets before, it was a nightmare… The Element would be particularly difficult the way it's all so integrated below floor level. Besides, I decided lower didn't work for me cause of the hips, so I gotta be happy with it a stock height… It's doing OK for me, though some day I hope to turn something like a Ford Transit into an ultimate tall car! Interesting you mention the rocking, I've been noticing something like that too! Perhaps you could provide me a link to where you got the bushing kit, I might need it sometime soon!
