Here is the deal on my seat troubles.

The foam that the upholstery shop added made the seat bottom too hard so I removed most of it. The main problem I am having is directly related to the rolled edge seam that runs down the middle of the side bolsters in the seat bottom. I slipped a strip of poster board in between my hip and the seat on a drive to work. You could see the impression of the seam in the poster board (it is that hard!). This confirmed why it was making my hips and the back of my legs so sore.

Last weekend, I decided to take the seat bottom completely apart to see if I could do anything to help the situation. Due to some wiring, I was not able to completely remove it. However, I was able to pull the cover off both sides of the seat bottom. You could easily see the impression of the seam in the foam in the side bolsters of the seat. It is obviously putting a lot of pressure on the foam when I sit in the seat. I decided to cut a groove in the foam with a razor knife so that the seam would be directly over the groove when I put the cover back on. I cut a groove about ½” wide and about ¼” deep. This allows the seam to presses into the groove and not put so much pressure on my hip and legs. My car has heated seats, but fortunately for me, the heating element does not extend on to the sidebolsters so cutting the groove did notaffectthe seat heating elements.

So far this modificationseems to have worked well. I drove the vehicle for about 6hr last Thursday and the seam did not bother me much. There was one place in the seat that still bothered me a little and I removed the cover on that side and made the groove a little wider yesterday. It was more comfortable after I put it back together. I think this modification is going to completely solve my problem.

It is a shame that Mazda did not take my complaint seriously. This groove could be made into the mold used to form the seat cushion. It does not alter the appearance of the seat in anyway. A smaller person would never notice that the groove was there and a larger person, like me, would certainly find it to be more comfortable. However, they will not even let me speak to anyone at Mazda that might find the information useful.

I was going to take some pictures when I took the seat apart this weekend, but I dropped my cameraon the garage floorand several internal parts are now external... [:@]