Lumbar supports not working?

Hi. I’ve been playing around with the lumbar supports in my seats but the 4x way lumbar buttons only seem to adjust 2x ways - two of the buttons inflate the same spot, two of the buttons deflate the same spot. This is the same in both of my seats. Is this normal?

Honcho said:

Hi. I’ve been playing around with the lumbar supports in my seats but the 4x way lumbar buttons only seem to adjust 2x ways - two of the buttons inflate the same spot, two of the buttons deflate the same spot. This is the same in both of my seats. Is this normal?

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Same, why I ditched the stock seats.

I’ve noticed the same thing. I can inflate or deflate the lumbar support, but I can’t make it go up or down so it’s in the position where I actually want it.

Do we think this is a fault (ie. it should be able to go up and down) or it designed this way (I’m which case what’s the point of the four buttons)?

Hmmm, it seems the lumbar support is meant to be adjustable up and down according to the manual. Maybe another common fault?!

Ok. Took the seat back apart. There are two air bladders on top of each other so both inflation buttons will move out the same area which is pointless. I positioned one bladder upside down and higher up the seat (circled red) and put a plastic panel (not pictured) behind it just like the lower one (circled green). Now I have lumbar support adjustment in different areas!

To remove the seatback there are 2X torx screws under the logo and 1x inside the seat back recline lever. The rest is held on with clips.

Honcho said:

Ok. Took the seat back apart. There are two air bladders on top of each other so both inflation buttons will move out the same area which is pointless. I positioned one bladder upside down and higher up the seat (circled red) and put a plastic panel (not pictured) behind it just like the lower one (circled green). Now I have lumbar support adjustment in different areas!

To remove the seatback there are 2X torx screws under the logo and 1x inside the seat back recline lever. The rest is held on with clips.

Click to expand...

Damn I feel like this needs a tutorial of it's own lol.

A video showing these in action and how these work would be really helpful for making adjustments. So the lumbar moving up isn't really moving, it's the difference between 2 bladders? One above and one below?

I agree with @kitkat , tutorial please!

Honcho said:

Ok. Took the seat back apart. There are two air bladders on top of each other so both inflation buttons will move out the same area which is pointless. I positioned one bladder upside down and higher up the seat (circled red) and put a plastic panel (not pictured) behind it just like the lower one (circled green). Now I have lumbar support adjustment in different areas!

To remove the seatback there are 2X torx screws under the logo and 1x inside the seat back recline lever. The rest is held on with clips.

Click to expand...

Hi Many thanks for this,
my car was getting unbearable to drive as there was a hard object that pressed into my lower middle back causing pain and numbness in my legs.
I removed the rear seat panel (5minutes job) and I immediately found the culprit, the tube that enters the bladder was what i could feel, i removed the two bladders and cut out a square slot in the hard plastic that allowed the tube to lie flush with the face of the lumber area of the seat.
I then placed the lower bladder as far down the back rest area as possible so when inflated it actually supported the lower shallow (arch) of your back, i then placed the second bladder above leaving a 3 inch gap between the two bladders which also is where you need the support in the upper back area.
I did not have any stiff plastic so i used a thick cardboard cut to the same shape of the plastic and again cut a small square section out to to allow the inflation tube to move backwards away from the front of the seat area.
I then took the car out and I immediately felt a massive difference so much so that the seats are now what i would call very comfortable, i was at the point of dropping the dollar on B10 Tillets but now there is absolutely no need.
The whole process from start to finish took me 25 minutes and is the single best mod that anyone could do in my opinion if you’re experiencing pain and an uncomfortable driving experience.
Once again many thanks for the write up as i would never have thought to do this and either purchased aftermarket seats or simply sold the car.

Just did this fix this morning, makes so much more sense. Not sure why they installed it with 2 in the same location.

Honcho said:

Ok. Took the seat back apart. There are two air bladders on top of each other so both inflation buttons will move out the same area which is pointless. I positioned one bladder upside down and higher up the seat (circled red) and put a plastic panel (not pictured) behind it just like the lower one (circled green). Now I have lumbar support adjustment in different areas!

To remove the seatback there are 2X torx screws under the logo and 1x inside the seat back recline lever. The rest is held on with clips.

Click to expand...

Did you also make those bladder adjustments to the passenger seat, or are you planing to?

crestima said:

Did you also make those bladder adjustments to the passenger seat, or are you planing to?

Click to expand...

I am not for now, I am usually a solo flyer.

So, does all of this mean that in some seats the lumbar bladders are in the correct (or different spots) than others? I know I shouldn't be surprised but I would think that these bladders would not be designed to be repositioned as easily as it sounds, they are.

Honcho said:

Hi. I’ve been playing around with the lumbar supports in my seats but the 4x way lumbar buttons only seem to adjust 2x ways - two of the buttons inflate the same spot, two of the buttons deflate the same spot. This is the same in both of my seats. Is this normal?

Click to expand...

Hi, I'm not having this issue on my seats. Well, I haven't checked the passenger seat, but the driver's lumbar support appears to move the inflated area up my back and then down again as desired, in addition to inflating out/in from the seatback. I suspect there's an issue with some seats not working correctly.
After several miles of driving (to test seats) and faffing about with all seat settings, I've got a great driving, very comfortable, position. It's my everyday car so it needs to have the perfect setup for me. I'll not be changing them.
I've just completed the run in period of 1,000 miles so took it for a blat in Sports mode for the first time down great country roads. The seats were superb, no issues.

Rapture said:

So, does all of this mean that in some seats the lumbar bladders are in the correct (or different spots) than others? I know I shouldn't be surprised but I would think that these bladders would not be designed to be repositioned as easily as it sounds, they are.

Click to expand...

I don't know about some of them being in the correct positions. Mine were, like other's, seat lower back bladder, bladder, and black plastic bladder backing. After doing mine, seems like nobody told the seat assemblers to unfold the bladders before installation. I placed firm plastic behind the bladder I flipped up, but not sure if it is necessary. Now I can air above my butt, and air below my shoulders and any combination of the 2.

Is this not something that should be covered by warranty? So the dealer should do this fix for free since the feature is not working according to the manual?

So, I took this apart today to take a look and see if it looks like it is installed incorrectly. While the two bladders are installed unusually close to each other it does appear to be designed to be installed where they are. The white assembly the bladders are attached to have provisions for the airlines for both bladders. It would be good if we can confirm with Lotus if those bladders should be installer differently. This is not detailed in the service manual that I could see.

@morphious How did you remove the bladder to move it up?

Rapture said:

So, I took this apart today to take a look and see if it looks like it is installed incorrectly. While the two bladders are installed unusually close to each other it does appear to be designed to be installed where they are. The white assembly the bladders are attached to have provisions for the airlines for both bladders. It would be good if we can confirm with Lotus if those bladders should be installer differently. This is not detailed in the service manual that I could see.

@morphious How did you remove the bladder to move it up?

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I agree the install looks correct, but the function makes no sense. My 2 cents, why have 2 buttons that inflate the same location? My Lexus, Porsche, and Toyota 4 Runner all adjust back top lumbar and bottom lumbar. Once the seat back is removed, I kinda man handled the black plastic backing out of the seat and flipped up the bladder. If I am not mistaken, the red tube bladder should be the bottom and the clear tube bladder is the one I flipped up and added a plastic support. HUGE difference, maybe, maybe not, but I can now feel when I add air to the top and the bottom and when I air them out.

I'm having trouble following these descriptions of the operation. Can some of you provide photos or videos of the lumbar action?

I can't speak for everyone else, but I see the problem as the lumbar being too high up the back, and my up/down button doesn't seem to do anything. If there are two bladders one above the other, it seems to me, if I deactivate the top bladder, then that should work out just right. At present, I've been deflating the lumbar entirely and skooch my butt as far back as possible, and that makes it just tolerable.

Yeah. I'm in line with everyone here. The bladders both being in the same location just doesn't make a ton of sense. What would the purpose be for having 2 controls for it?

Not sure what the bladder thickness is when fully deflated, but I would welcome a deeper bolster feel.

Seems like it may be the Emira equivalent to the Miata "Foam Economy"