Plaid seat padding not good. Seeking input from other plaid owners

[crunchtime2k]

I have a new July 13th built plaid vin 43713x..

Driver and passenger seat bottom cushion feels like it was stuffed with some very low density foam, looks plush but easily compressed down to the metal frame with just your palm, absolutely painful and mega annoying driving it. It’s like sitting on a metal bar. Besides the yoke this is my biggest issue.

Any others with feedback? I am 240lbs and owned 3 model S before . My 2017 was similar and a seat replacement resolved it.

this plaid is by far the worst with what I would call almost no density to the padding.

 

[URBAN LEGEND]

I don’t have that issue on my Plaid. I do think the seats could have came with more adjustments. 5’8”/200 lbs.

 

[JustJoshingYou]

Don't have any sort of issue on mine as well, I am not sure if the new seats have the same air bladder design as previous models but it could be your air bladder isn't inflating properly?
Are all of the seats the same? If not then I would definitely schedule a service visit and see maybe something isn't working properly.

 

[Blueblaster]

Schedule service, this seems to be unique to your car.

 

[cassiri]

Not unique to your car. My Plaid is the same. The cushion of the last generation S seats is gone. These lack side bolster support and the bottom is reallly firm with not near enough adjustment range.
My wife can’t sit in the seats at all given the low cushion height because the shape of the seat back and very pronounced (unadjustable) head rest pushes the top of her head forward.
I love the car and would gladly pay for upgraded seats, or even at this point aftermarket ones with decent adjustments and support. This is a real miss compared to the previous gen seats. I think they are even a step down possibly compared to my P85D seats.
I hate to have to put a cheap foam cushion on the bottom but not sure what else can be done. Anyone have experience modifying factory seats?

 

[cassiri]

Has anyone had experience with modifying factory seats or installing aftermarket seats? Any recommendations?

 

[electrique]

I have a new July 13th built plaid vin 43713x..

Driver and passenger seat bottom cushion feels like it was stuffed with some very low density foam, looks plush but easily compressed down to the metal frame with just your palm, absolutely painful and mega annoying driving it. It’s like sitting on a metal bar. Besides the yoke this is my biggest issue.

Any others with feedback? I am 240lbs and owned 3 model S before . My 2017 was similar and a seat replacement resolved it.

this plaid is by far the worst with what I would call almost no density to the padding.

Model S Plaid: experiencing the same thing. I've been posting all over the Internet frantically trying to figure this out. I've had my Plaid for a little over a week. Almost immediately I developed excruciating pain in my right glute. Starting to radiate into lower back pain now. Obviously I had a car before my Plaid and didn't experience any pain. That car was an SUV, an ICE SUV with no battery reducing floor space so plenty of vertical room for my legs. I feel like that must be part of it. But I also feel like the Plaid seat is compressing my hips and glutes too much. Those side supports feel encroaching. Then again, visually they don't look much different from the way Mercedes and BMW chairs are built.

I don't want to go carving up or customizing the chair because I don't want to kill resale value on this car.

Possibility:

(1) It's the chair.

(a) It's the crappy cushioning.​

(b) It's the narrow flat area combined with the encroaching side supports compressing legs/glutes/hips.​

(2) It's the chair combined a scenario where one's knees are coming up above one's hips because of the lack of vertical space for legs. In this case, you would think it would be more of a Model S problem, but I'm seeing people complain about this and all sorts of Tesla vehicles, including the Model X.

 

[electrique]

Not unique to your car. My Plaid is the same. The cushion of the last generation S seats is gone. These lack side bolster support and the bottom is reallly firm with not near enough adjustment range.
My wife can’t sit in the seats at all given the low cushion height because the shape of the seat back and very pronounced (unadjustable) head rest pushes the top of her head forward.
I love the car and would gladly pay for upgraded seats, or even at this point aftermarket ones with decent adjustments and support. This is a real miss compared to the previous gen seats. I think they are even a step down possibly compared to my P85D seats.
I hate to have to put a cheap foam cushion on the bottom but not sure what else can be done. Anyone have experience modifying factory seats?

I was wondering if there was a change to the seats. I had a Tesla 100D in 2018 and I had zero pain. Now I have the Plaid, a much more expensive car, and I'm getting excruciating pain in my right glute and increasingly my lower back. Note: the SUV I had immediately before getting the Plaid also gave me no pain. So it's clearly something to do with the Plaid. Can't tell if it's the fact it my knees are coming up over my hips slightly because of the lack of vertical space for my legs, or if it's truly the chair itself. Or both.

I love many things about the car. Just like I love many things about Tesla in general. But there are also plenty of things I don't like about the car, as well as some other major practical reasons why I'm already thinking of selling it. If this pain is a result of the seat, this car is gone. I'll even take a loss on it. Comfort is too important.

What's even crazier is that I've barely driven this car. Not only in the sense that I haven't taken it out of the garage many times, but in the sense that when I am "driving" the car I'm mostly letting it drive itself. So I'm not keeping my driver's leg and foot tense as often as you do when you're in a car without advanced driver assist features. Given that, you would think that I should be experiencing less strain and pain, not more. The fact that my Plaid has caused such excruciating pain despite the fact that (1) I've only had it for about a week, and (2) I am literally just sitting in a chair barely doing anything, is actually kind of an achievement. Only the worst possible kind of achievement.

 

[electrique]

Has anyone had experience with modifying factory seats or installing aftermarket seats? Any recommendations?

Some people in this thread (How to make the driver seat comfortable?) threw out a lot of different ideas. But that was a couple years ago and they weren't talking about Plaid seats. Ultimately somebody's going to have to be a guinea pig and disassemble a seat and try to figure out what's going on. Maybe in partnership with one of the aftermarket companies.

 

[oktane]

Not unique to your car. My Plaid is the same. The cushion of the last generation S seats is gone. These lack side bolster support and the bottom is reallly firm with not near enough adjustment range.
My wife can’t sit in the seats at all given the low cushion height because the shape of the seat back and very pronounced (unadjustable) head rest pushes the top of her head forward.
I love the car and would gladly pay for upgraded seats, or even at this point aftermarket ones with decent adjustments and support. This is a real miss compared to the previous gen seats. I think they are even a step down possibly compared to my P85D seats.
I hate to have to put a cheap foam cushion on the bottom but not sure what else can be done. Anyone have experience modifying factory seats?

any car upholstery shop can probably fix it to your liking

i haven't done much distance driving but i find the plaid seats to be as comfortable as any tesla, aka not Porsche/Mercedes but good enough