Front Seats

I went from a 2013 tC to my 14 Taco for my daily driver, the truck feels so much more comfortable in just about every way.

 

In the most unsafe way possible.

 

Why is it unsafe?Proper grade bolts and torqued right...

 

I'm 6'2 and used the "most unsafe" 1 1/2" spacers under the rear of the seat rail - and - haven't look back since. Much more comfortable.

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/index.shtml

To each his or her own. I also did the mirror mod that raises the rear view mirror.

 

If you look at the surface of the original seat bracket is wide and flush when mounted to the uni-body.

By adding a raised element to this set up the impact now rides strictly in the bolt. And while proper torque places a part in keeping seat attached to the frame, it done NOT keep it properly bolted during a major impact.

The force is now strictly on the bolt and not the entirety of the seat frame and the bolt. That bolt, with the spacer has a high probability of sheering clean off in the event of an accident.

 

1. Raise your seat as high as you need to by installing spacers between the seat and the rails.
2. Get a pair of Wet Okole seat covers. 8mm thick neoprene adds quite a noticeable cushion. You can also add an inflatable lumbar support attachment to the seat covers if you want to supplement the lumbar support you get from the stock seats.

 

This covers most of it. The other issue is most people just say grade 8 or bust with these mods. The issue is as you go up in grade the bolts increase in brittleness. So instead of deformity and bending the bolt completely separates and now youre no longer secured and at the mercy of the forces in your accident instead of still being restrained even if it's in a reduced capacity. It's extremely easy to exceed the shear strength of a bolt at typical car speeds. Instead of the load being spread across the brackets it's now only on the small cross section where the bolt passes through the seat bracket. A 1/4 inch grade 8 bolt has a shear strength of 4k pounds per square inch in perfect conditions. Say you get rear ended by some one traveling 30 mph. A 200 pound passenger would be exerting approximately 6000 pounds of force. To over simplify this well pretend this load is perfectly spread across 4 bolts. That should give us a shear strength of 16k pounds. All seems good, but we're no longer spreading that across the seat brackets, only the 1/8th of an inch cross section where the bolt passes through the bracket. So now our shear strength is reduced to 2k pounds. Even if you're hit in an awkward angle and the load is squarely focused on one bolt, you only have 500 pounds until it shears, then the load is transfered to the next.

This is an over simplification of the forces at play but it gives an idea of how easily the limits of these bolts can quickly be exceeded. At that point it's the equivalent of being without a seat belt and while there's a microscopic chance you're thrown clear of the whole accident and land on a cushion, the most likely outcome is extreme injuries and possibly ending up in ICU, if you survive at all. There's a lot that goes into the engineering of these pieces of equipment.

 

Yeah the seats are really the only thing I don't like about my Tacoma. They're awkward and don't have enough padding in the right places. I've found that to be true of most vehicles these days because of safety so I've learned to deal with it.

 

I'm not sure you lose much security in not having the bracket sit flush to the floor on that contact point which is no larger than an oversized washer. If anything the forward force on the bolt which may cause it to be sheared off would be spread out over a larger section of the bolt, making it less likely to shear off. Either way, if you used a fatter spacer you could replicate the contact point between the frame and the floor if you were worried about that.

 

You're ignoring the additional leverage a spacer adds to this.

 

Are you worried about the seat going ass-over-tea kettle? I get where your concern is but I don't think a slight change in seat angle is going to cause calamity. If it were that touch and go, Toyota would say that if you have big tits or an oversized head, you are top-heavy and need to lean way back to limit the leverage effect on the seat bracket bolts in the event of a collision.

 

No, not even close. Spreading the load over a larger area greatly increases the amount of forces needed for failure. Ignore it all you want but physics is physics. Taking the contact area from several square inches down to half a square inch creates a dangerous situation and people should be made aware of that. Not to mention if the accident investigation turns up the seat modifications lead to injuries. Now the claims denied and you're on the hook for your medical bills. Sounds like fun.

 

This plus what you said earlier is spot on. I'm no engineer but I do have an understanding of structural integrity.

 

This is an excellent opportunity to drop some coin on a set of Recaro's.
Gotta see the glass as half-full, my man.

 

You're talking about 2 different directional forces though. resting on an extra 2 square inches of flooring isn't going to keep it from moving in an upward direction. It's like saying a truck would be easier to lift if it were on its side rather than just being on 4 little tires. The additional contact area under it will help to ensure it doesn't fall through the floor but it doesn't anchor it from pulling up and away.

 

I know you guys could be correct regarding the seat mod being a killer during a wreck, but I'm just not convinced that the last thought in your brain as it travels through the windshield is, "Damn, if I just hadn't set the back of the seat a half inch higher this never would have happened to me". If the impact is violent enough to break bolts just because they are a half inch longer, well, you're fucked anyway. But I could be wrong.

 

I might need a little K Y and a shoe horn but after about 4 hrs in these seats I'd probably be willing to try to make those Buick seats fit.

 

I've noticed it makes my ass numb after long trips. I think my 2003 Ranger had far more comfortable seats

 

No its not like saying that at all.

 

Damn im 5 9-10 and i think its too high.