2004 Lexus LS 430 - Seats

Just purchased a 2004 LS430 with about 57K mileage and I absolutely love the car. However, the seat seems to be hard and uncomfortable. Does the seat need to be repaired or is this the way Lexus builds their seats. Also, the A/C has a high pitch whistle on high fan settings. Anyone else have experience to share with this car? Thanks!

You’ll have a hard time finding a supple seat on ANY modern car. That’s been a major pet peeve of mine in recent years. I have a bad back, and seats today are designed by ergonomics engineers to force you into the shape that some 2nd year engineering book says you should be in. Almost all car seats today are made this way out of firm foam. When I went car shopping in 2005 I had a terrible time finding something comfortable.

  • mountainbike

Seats are completely subjective and to the individual’s taste. I don’t even think price of car has any bearing on seat comfort.

One way seat comfort improves is by improving posture and strengthening back muscles.

I have the same car and the seats are VERY comfortable - maybe there’s something wrong with yours. My only complaint with the seats is that the leather wears out badly. Regarding the A.C., I’ve had the same problem with my son’s Camry, and the A.C. guy tells me that it would be really expensive to fix, so I just keep it on low-ish speeds. I don’t know if yours would be the same problem.

All I can say is that all of these problems will fade on the first pretty day when you take the top down … oh, and until you find out that the tires last only 7,000-10,000 miles … yikes!!! But it’s still gorgeous, and enjoy the ride!!

I’ve had a 100k 2001 LS430 for several months now and have the same issue as you with the seat hardness - and in addition I have a wide butt and the hard bolsters create some pain on the right side from time to time.

I rent quite a few cars and I’ve noticed that a number of them, particularly SUVs have very comfortable seat - not hard, not cushy - and the seatbacks are shaped to fit me very well. Even with both lumbar adjustments I don’t get as comfortable in the LS. I’m planning to take have some work done to my seat by an uphostry guy who specializes in that sort of thing.

re the A/C. I have no whistling noise when I turn to max A/C.