Lumbar supports not working?

[seriously]

I just fixed this for my seat. It’s obviously incorrectly installed. When you open the seat back up you will see or deduce there are two air bladders stacked on each other, a white felt layer and then a black plastic hardback.

The two bladders are actually folded over like taking a piece of paper and folding it in half. To install correctly I shimmied my hand inbetween the bladder and seat back and gently rolled the upper air bladder upwards - effectively unfolding it. Now the “paper” sits flat instead of folded and there is lumbar adjustment for top and bottom. To me this is obviously correct. You can see the two air bladders connected by a kind of joint. When you lay it flat this joint assures the correct height in the seat back for both air bladders.

Now I was hoping for an incredible change but I didn’t feel it. The default lower lumbar without any inflation is still too pronounced. Now I can inflate a lower and upper lumbar but i actually don’t want either. I just want a flatter seatback and to sit deeper into the seat which is impacted by the factory foam. It’s still fine as the factory foam has crushed down and is now more comfortable than brand new. This new air bladder adjustment does allow me to inflate and create a flat seatback but now I’m pushed farther out of the seat and really feel like I’m on top of the seat and not in it. I still prefer zero air bladder fill upper and lower.

I still think it’s a worthy endeavor in case your experience and adjustment preferences are different.

 

[Rapture]

I just fixed this for my seat. It’s obviously incorrectly installed. When you open the seat back up you will see or deduce there are two air bladders stacked on each other, a white felt layer and then a black plastic hardback.

The two bladders are actually folded over like taking a piece of paper and folding it in half. To install correctly I shimmied my hand inbetween the bladder and seat back and gently rolled the upper air bladder upwards - effectively unfolding it. Now the “paper” sits flat instead of folded and there is lumbar adjustment for top and bottom. To me this is obviously correct. You can see the two air bladders connected by a kind of joint. When you lay it flat this joint assures the correct height in the seat back for both air bladders.

Now I was hoping for an incredible change but I didn’t feel it. The default lower lumbar without any inflation is still too pronounced. Now I can inflate a lower and upper lumbar but i actually don’t want either. I just want a flatter seatback and to sit deeper into the seat which is impacted by the factory foam. It’s still fine as the factory foam has crushed down and is now more comfortable than brand new. This new air bladder adjustment does allow me to inflate and create a flat seatback but now I’m pushed farther out of the seat and really feel like I’m on top of the seat and not in it. I still prefer zero air bladder fill upper and lower.

I still think it’s a worthy endeavor in case your experience and adjustment preferences are different.

I just did this also. I flipped the bladder closest to the front of the seat up. Interestingly (or not) the button that should control the lower bladder controls the upper and vice versa. That bladder was in the uppermost position prior while they were folded together so it has always been reversed. Now I'm thinking that maybe the bladder assembly could be installed upside down? I think it could fit the other way but I'm not sure what difference this would make unless the lower bladder (hard to see) is perhaps a different shape. This is an enigma.

 

[seriously]

I just did this also. I flipped the bladder closest to the front of the seat up. Interestingly (or not) the button that should control the lower bladder controls the upper and vice versa. That bladder was in the uppermost position prior while they were folded together so it has always been reversed. Now I'm thinking that maybe the bladder assembly could be installed upside down? I think it could fit the other way but I'm not sure what difference this would make unless the lower bladder (hard to see) is perhaps a different shape. This is an enigma.

I noticed the same thing. I don’t think it’s worth the effort to flip it. I imagine it would work exactly the same way.

 

[cdn_alien]

The default lower lumbar without any inflation is still too pronounced. Now I can inflate a lower and upper lumbar but i actually don’t want either. I just want a flatter seatback and to sit deeper into the seat which is impacted by the factory foam. It’s still fine as the factory foam has crushed down and is now more comfortable than brand new. This new air bladder adjustment does allow me to inflate and create a flat seatback but now I’m pushed farther out of the seat and really feel like I’m on top of the seat and not in it. I still prefer zero air bladder fill upper and lower.

Seriously, is it safe to say that if I want less "bulge" in the middle of the back than 'no lumbar at all', that this adjustment really doesn't change anything? Because, I'm noticing the foam is starting to thin out, and I really don't want to sit ON the seat back than I already am.

 

[seriously]

Seriously, is it safe to say that if I want less "bulge" in the middle of the back than 'no lumbar at all', that this adjustment really doesn't change anything? Because, I'm noticing the foam is starting to thin out, and I really don't want to sit ON the seat back than I already am.

Correct, it didn't make much of a change for me.

I might fiddle around with different settings (like more prone) to see if having upper and lower lumbar gets you somewhere, but fundamentally the default middle bulge is still there. AND the side bolsters are miniscule. bizarrely inadequate.

 

[RyanGphoto]

I just fixed this for my seat. It’s obviously incorrectly installed. When you open the seat back up you will see or deduce there are two air bladders stacked on each other, a white felt layer and then a black plastic hardback.

The two bladders are actually folded over like taking a piece of paper and folding it in half. To install correctly I shimmied my hand inbetween the bladder and seat back and gently rolled the upper air bladder upwards - effectively unfolding it. Now the “paper” sits flat instead of folded and there is lumbar adjustment for top and bottom. To me this is obviously correct. You can see the two air bladders connected by a kind of joint. When you lay it flat this joint assures the correct height in the seat back for both air bladders.

Now I was hoping for an incredible change but I didn’t feel it. The default lower lumbar without any inflation is still too pronounced. Now I can inflate a lower and upper lumbar but i actually don’t want either. I just want a flatter seatback and to sit deeper into the seat which is impacted by the factory foam. It’s still fine as the factory foam has crushed down and is now more comfortable than brand new. This new air bladder adjustment does allow me to inflate and create a flat seatback but now I’m pushed farther out of the seat and really feel like I’m on top of the seat and not in it. I still prefer zero air bladder fill upper and lower.

I still think it’s a worthy endeavor in case your experience and adjustment preferences are different.

I too would rather NO bladder as right now (as deflated as I can get them) it still WAY too far out and arches my lower back out too much.. It's painful after about 90 minutes of driving.

Would love NO bladder at all, or crush the seat foam even more.. Maybe I can take it to a shop and have them install different foam.. I just wonder if the seat cover would be wrinkled with less foam and no bladder in the seat causing the white seat cover to look wrinkled.

 

[seriously]

I too would rather NO bladder as right now (as deflated as I can get them) it still WAY too far out and arches my lower back out too much.. It's painful after about 90 minutes of driving.

Would love NO bladder at all, or crush the seat foam even more.. Maybe I can take it to a shop and have them install different foam.. I just wonder if the seat cover would be wrinkled with less foam and no bladder in the seat causing the white seat cover to look wrinkled.

I bet a competent shop could trim down the seatback foam and tighten up the leather. Then the lumbar bolsters actually make sense as you can fine tune the bolster top and bottom. I don’t know this for a fact but it seems very doable considering the kinds of custom things they can do like increasing foam. I *might* look into it at some point just for the drivers side.

 

[cdn_alien]

I just wonder if the seat cover would be wrinkled with less foam and no bladder in the seat causing the white seat cover to look wrinkled.

If it does wrinkle, you would think the upholsterer could stitch some kind of argyle pattern on the leather to make it look stylish.