HELP! Really bad seats in '09 Forester

9forester9 · Post by **9forester9** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 3:50 pm

Hi,
I recently bought a Forester XS...
The seats seemed OK at the time, but now I discover after doing a few hundred K's they are really uncomfortable (and my wife absolutely hates them). Does anyone know if there is a direct swap available? The Subaru dealer tells me they can't help me out... but surely there are some other Subaru seats (with the same airbag setup etc) from a Liberty or other that will direct fit??

Really don't want to have to sell an otherwise good car because of dodgy seats.

Any help would be much appreciated...

thanks.

sven '2' · Post by **sven '2'** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 7:04 pm

reckon you are stuffed on this

There is nothing that is direct swap as such - without voiding warranty / ADRs / safety etc

Your seats have airbags? Their deployment is part of overall collision management - to remove them may well have a significant impact on the vehicle's ability to protect you in the event of a major collision

Not like an old L where you put Recaros (or whatever) without considering the above factors

have an X myself - thought they are a pretty reasonable seat myself - but everyone's different

goodluck

sven

Xtreme_RX · Post by **Xtreme_RX** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 8:30 pm

After market seating probably is the only way to go.
Recaro & Stratos are the best options.

http://www.idealseat.com.au/ - for Recaro
http://www.stratos.com.au/ - for Stratos

tex · Post by **tex** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 11:50 pm

As sven has previously mentioned there goes the warranty but provided you can find some seats that complie with the same updated safety standards you should be able to get them made to fit. I.e. off an older model (However I am not entirely sure if the australian standards have changed in regards to this recently) Or if you can find a motor trimmer game enough to do the job they may be able to add some more padding etc...
My best advice is talk to a state certified automotive engineer and they should be able to help you out in some way or another!

9forester9 · Post by **9forester9** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 9:42 am

great... thanks very much for the advice.

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 4:07 pm

You could always just fit whatever seat you like and just bolt the originals back in when you need to claim warranty.

sven '2' · Post by **sven '2'** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 7:00 pm

sven '2' wrote:
Your seats have airbags? Their deployment is part of overall collision management - to remove them may well have a significant impact on the vehicle's ability to protect you in the event of a major collision

swapping in/out for warranty claim?

As long as you have the chance!

think WCS

sven

Subie Snax · Post by **Subie Snax** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:05 pm

surely seats out of a current model liberty or impreza,etc.. would be a straight swap/fit... and would meet all required adr's, plug straight into factory airbag sensors... i assume a nice set of leather liberty seats would be nice and comfy..???

INEEDABEER · Post by **INEEDABEER** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 9:40 pm

Its an '09 Forrester,the seats will not be any good until next year:D
It just might take that long to get used to them.

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 3:42 pm

INEEDABEER wrote:Its an '09 Forrester

Yeah I don't get that - we haven't finished '08 yet and they're shoving out 2009 models already?!

I thought a few things odd about subaru but not knowing that we're not in the next year already wasn't one of those things.

Cheers

Bennie

Subyroo · Post by **Subyroo** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 10:04 pm

Subie Snax wrote:surely seats out of a current model liberty or impreza,etc.. would be a straight swap/fit... and would meet all required adr's, plug straight into factory airbag sensors... i assume a nice set of leather liberty seats would be nice and comfy..???

Nope! tried that line (via Sunspares prior to new owners) with my 03 XS Forester outside of Recaro's we are screwed, that's if you want to keep it legal etc for Insurance purposes.

P.S. My wife hates ours too.

rob83ke70 · Post by **rob83ke70** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 11:42 pm

they are talking about 09 complianced vehicles. built in 2008, but they are next years model... the complianced date was the important one.

i personally did not think that the 2008 onwards subaru's were nearly as good as the old ones. i worked for a subaru dealership up until recently. I got to drive a 08 wrx before the sales department did, and i wasn't overly impressed. i'm not a fan of the plastic engine (plastic manifolds bov etc) and the whole car seems cheap and flimsy and its not the serious sports car it once was. Apparently they are catering to a whole different market these days, and getting away from the "boy racer" thing. the new wrx feels like a littler version of a gt forester (the xt was a bit more refined to drive). doesn't feel like it goes as hard as the older ones either, according to the "seat of the pants" dyno, the ej20 turbo went harder than the ej25.... or it felt that way to drive...

i am going to say that you should leave the seats in it. the side impact airbags and seat design is SPECIFIC to that model of car that you have got, and any changes to it will void warranty and adr compliance and the general theoretical safety of your car in the event of a collision. I would strongly suggest that if you don't like how the seats feel you get them modified by an upholsterer and put different foam/padding in them, or get them built up differently or something along those lines. seat covers may help a bit too with the right ones, but they have to be side airbag compatible....

i'm a bit of an old car lover myself... i don't think anything 2008 onwards is as nice as they used to be. not just subaru...

oh and expect to do a lot of o2 sensors in 2008 onwards subarus they seem to eat them. and subaru call the front one an "air/fuel" sensor.