albertchampion

so, i am in a rehap facility for hamstring and gluteus medius issues.

the first thing my sports med doc asked me was, "tell me what car[s] you were driving when this started?".

i told her, my benz coupes[2006 cl500, 2006 cl55].

her response, "there are the causes. those seats are horrible."

and i think she gets it accurately. in rehab, i have been conducting a straw poll amongst the therapists and they all consider automobile seats the biggest culprits in causing back/hip pains.

and so i ask the question, is anyone manufacturing orthopedic seats for these benz coupes?

i know that once upon a time, benz offered orthopedic seats as an option. i have them on my 1979 6.9. and my 1986 560sel.

but it seems that benz abandoned that level of seating option.

my sports med doc asserts that in this era, with but one exception, no auto manufacturer offers "back-friendly" seats. not even as an option.

why is this, do you think?

Ifari

Hmmmm, I have to disagree with the doc's opinion on this one.

Reason being, the C215 cars have large seats with numerous seat adjustments with inflatable seat and back cushions. I also know some C215 cars have massaging seats as an option and although I don't have seat massagers, I did buy my CL500 because the seats in the CLK were not as large, or as comfortable on a long trip for me.

I looked at the CL500 seats and determined that - they would do my body good - and they did! I have never experienced back discomfort or fatigue in it.

I sincerely think that perhaps some other underlying reasons caused your injuries and do hope you recover fully, and, although I know some cars and seats can lead to discomfort and chronic pain, imo, a big body Benz is not one of them.

On another personal note, I bought my first MBZ (W123) because the Jetta I used to drive was causing me knee pains. Since owning that first Benz, I have come to appreciate one particular aspect of driving a Mercedes, especially the big ones - Superior Comfort levels.

In any regard, Get Well Soon!

StarPower

Did the Doc say specifically what was wrong with the seats?

albertchampion

in a sense, yes.

she recognizes that the w215 seats invite what i call a formula 1 driving posture. right leg fully extended with a slight offset to the right. and the seat/back orientation does not allow for a very upright posture, which she considers the most back[especially lower]friendly position.

she asked me what other vehicle i was driving until my lower back/right hip issues began. i told her my daily driver was my cayenne turbo. and when i began to identify the 215s' seats as a part of the problem, the pain was ameliorated by a return to driving the cayenne.

i have found also that my old 1996 yukon driver's seat causes less pain.

i am finding that most chairs have become uncomfortable to me, so i visited a store[RELAX THE BACK] to research more back friendly seating and bedding solutions. the salespeople in the stores in the houston area that i visited also consider automobile seats to be one of the most back-unfriendly aspects of living/driving.

they also informed me that the only back-friendly auto seats that they knew of in current production vehicles were those fitted to the toyota sienna. apparently they were designed by the back guru mackenzie. he was not hired to design any other seats for any other cars manufactured by toyota.

as far as i can determine, no automobile manufacturer offers back-friendly seats either as a standard fitting or as an optional fitting[as benz once did].

i have finished a week of in-patient therapy and i would say that 90% of my lower back/right hip pain issues have been ameliorated. i have some additional therapy scheduled over the next two weeks and then i shall see if driving the cl500 causes any more discomfort.

oh, as a last note, i do not find the seats in the cl55 to be as pain-inducing.

JHouse

Sorry. I have to call BS on this. I have never seen a seat that is so adjustable. Too many ways to fix the position. If you have a problem with the position, it is the adjustment. It sounds like you were essentially laying way back. I wouldn't think that would cause a problem but I hate driving that way. I deal with doctors all the time. Real doctors. This sounds like what we call junk science. Unverifiable hypothesis. Not based on the scientific method, generally accepted methodology established with repeatable testing and results. They've sold about 50,000 CL's. I haven't heard of the expected epidemic of injuries. It's more likely that these cars are generally so expensive that they are primarily owned by older men, who have the same degenerative process at work as everyone else. I suppose of you have that sort of deterioration going on, and you take advantage of some of the extreme capabilities of these cars you might be able to jerk yourself around and aggravate some underlying degenerative condition. I'm a geezer, And I wish I had my CL seats in my theater room, where I spend a bunch more time.

albertchampion

well,

as you might notice, i have a small collection of benzes. i had never had an issue with back pain/hip pain driving any of them until a month or so ago.

my daily driver was the cayenne. but when i started driving the cl500 exclusively some weeks ago, i started having these pains. which got worse the more often i drove that car.

doing therapy and driving only the cayenne[upon the recommendation of my sports med doc], my pains have been ameliorated.

i am in pretty good shape, you know. before the onset of all this pain i was walking all over sicily and italy. and a passenger in an opel wagon. no pain.

and your response almost makes me think you had some ego investment in the design of mb seats.

look, as i wrote, for the 116, 126 series, benz offered orthopedic seats as an option. to my mind, this reveals that benz knew that there was a need for better seats than what was offered as standard original equipment.

furthermore, it is only the seating for the cl500 that i am complaining about. not my cl55. nor any of my other benzes. and i think we might all agree that the standard 215's were built to an accountant's agenda - shortcuts were mandated. and that mandate might have dictated seat selection.

and in closing, my sports med doc is an outstanding one in this medical capital of the world. she has a large practice and finds auto seating to be one of the major culprits in causing lower back pain. so does my neuro-muscular therapist. so do all the therapists at my rehab facility.

the worst seats that i encounter are those in the "c" class benzes that my sugarland dealer offers as loaners. they are so bad that i no longer take a loaner. i drop my car off and have a driver pick me up. the seats in the "c" class cars are back killers.

lastly, as i concluded in my last post, perhaps there is something else going on that is exacerbating my right hip pain. i shall know more after i finish therapy in the next two weeks.

but i do care to add this. when i thought the pain was being caused by my armchair, i went to a store, RELAX THE BACK, and auditioned chairs designed and manufactured to reduce back pain. after that auditioning, there is no question in my mind that most chairs[seats] are not designed to eliminate seating designs that aggravate back pain.

i also think you missed a focus of my point...i think that there is no issue that most car seats are not well designed. i think that the std benz 215 seats are not that back friendly. and that an orthopedic seat option would be a desirable option[as was the case with the 116, 126 sedans].

what more can i say?

to reiterate, most non-vehicular chairs are not back friendly. most vehicular seating is not back friendly.

if you doubt that, go and do a survey concerning this issue with orthopods and physical therapists. i think you will find that they are on my side of this issue.

i close this way, m-b recognized during the production of the 116, 126 sedans that orthopedic seats were wanted by its customers.

my point has been that i would like for m-b to renew that customer orientation.

savvy?

JHouse

Making seating of every kind the cause of a bad back is what I say is junk science. Otherwise there would be an epidemic. Age combined with genetics is typically the cause, unless you have had some actual traumas. Gaining comfort in seating may well be an issue for you, but I don't think it is because chair makers are not customer oriented.

gaazmon

my father also complains about back pain and also thinks it's because of the seats on his 02 CL500, specifically the bottom of the seat (he states there's a gap in there). i told him to play around with the adjustments so idk.

i really like the seats on the CL. the seats on my 04 E are nice (i have the optional dynamic seats with massage feature), but the ones on the CL are even better (the CL also has the optional massage seats feature).

ghaffar23

Totally agreed. Numerous trips in an 2004 CL600 prior to trading in for an 2008 has proven this simple fact. I, myself, also have a lowly '01 E430 and I can recall one NON-STOP trip from Southern Illinois to Tampa, FL and **BACK** that I made in 32 hours and not a single bit of back pain or related fatigue. NONE. Granted I was physically exhausted, but I have never sat in a car where so much thought and attention to detail has been taken into account for driver and passenger comfort. I've driven the *other guys*, but they just don't compare to a Mercedes. Kudos to Mercedes!