So I bought a 2018 Hyundai Tucson one week ago… Ever since the day I got it I have had horrible back pain both in my lower and upper back. It is almost unbearable while driving even for 5 minutes and persists for hours even after getting out of the car. I have tried every adjustment possible… I have leather power seats with lumbar support and have tried the seat, lumbar support and steering wheel in every imaginable configuration and nothing helps. I put a gel cushion on the seat and that helped my lower back a fair amount but my upper back is still on fire. The seat is so hard! Could it be something wrong with my particular seat? Or do these seats just completely suck? I have never had any problems in any other vehicle I’ve ever owned… And I don’t have any typical back problems or issues. I was always extremely comfortable in my Toyota Sienna and in the Acura TL I was commuting in. Also have had a Passat station wagon, Honda Pilot, rented a Toyota Corolla for a couple weeks, also rented a Toyota Highlander for a week. I have never been in this kind of discomfort in a vehicle before and I’m really not sure what to do…
Looks like you did not really gave much attention to this aspect during a test drive if you feel so much discomfort even after 5 minutes 
Get to the dealer and sit in the similar car and check if seat is any different. Most likely you will notice no difference, and likely it is the entire model line what has them this way.
Some dealers give some time you can change your mind and return your newly purchased vehicle, but this period is usually 5-7 days, no longer, and you will forfeit “processing fee”, which can easily be in $500+ figures.
I used to have similar problem in my old 2007 Subaru Impreza, but I would need to drive above one hour to get that discomfort.
I only drove the vehicle for 10 minutes during the test drive. No I don’t remember noticing anything during that time. But I absolutely noticed that I had a sore back when I got home, after the 60-mile drive from the dealership to my house.
And I commute 60 miles to work so I think at this point my back is so messed up from being in that seat for a couple hours a day that even a quick trip to the Target 3 miles from my house now aggravates it.
I know there is no cooling off period for the purchase of this vehicle.
I suppose it’s worth a trip to the dealership to see if I feel the same in another vehicle with the same seats.
You might consider trading the vehicle, but the loss will be quite stiff as car is still very new.
In my case, it did not matter much, as my commute was around 20 minutes at the time I owned mine, but in 4 years I owned my car with that uncomfy seats, it was getting only worse and I ended up trading the car I loved for everything, other than seats.
Yeah I’ve only had it a week and a couple days… I don’t think that’s an option. Sigh. So disappointing.
I had exactly the same problem in 2005 when I bought a new Corolla. After two months, the pain got so crippling that I traded the Corolla for a new Scion tC. The loss left a big dent in my wallet, but I mentally “wrote it off” as a medical (health) expense. I still enjoy driving the tC thirteen years and 253,000 miles later, and I haven’t regretted the decision for one moment.
If you can find a car that really is comfortable for you, my recommendation is to trade the Tucson. You’ll take a financial hit, but you’ll be glad you did.
I remembered renting a Kia Rio last summer and it felt like I was sitting on a piece of plywood. Hyundai and Kia have extremely hard seats…its not your imagination.
The seats in my 2010 Cobalt LS had little cushioning. I ended up buying “Neosupreme” custom seat covers from Coverking.com. The addition padding provided by the seat covers improved the seat comfort considerably. It’s a band-aid solution but it’s a cheaper than trading it in. Coverking offers seat covers in neoprene (thicker padding) also.
Other than needing a good cleaning the seat covers are holding up well nearly 8 years later.
Good luck,
Ed B.
This vendor is a little bit on expensive side (comparing by the leather re-upholstery price for my car, I was pricing it up with other vendors before), but this is by no means a better solution than to continue suffering or to trade the car.
I haven’t heard that complaint here that I recall. I did find the rear seat of one Hyundai model to be a little uncomfortable though. Don’t recall which model is was though. Looked nice with the leather and all, but wasn’t very comfortable to sit in. And the ride was pretty harsh too, which didn’t help. hmmmm … well, a couple of ideas First, maybe it isn’t the seat that’s causing the problem but the ride quality. Something about the vehicle’s suspension system in other words. If so, the discomfort is caused when you go over bumps or during turns, not from just sitting in the seat. It could also have something to do with your leg positions, rather than the seat. Second, if it is the seat, it might be an improvement to have the existing seat re-worked (at a car-seat upholstery shop), or to install a used seat from a prior year Tucson.
That’s a good idea, George.
Per my [limited] observations, late-gen cars tend to put seat too much down, resulting in legs getting raised up and entire sitting position kinda strange.
Good news may be that likely seat has some vertical position adjustments, even a little bit can help.
This may be either expensive (upholstery shop) or can hurt resale value, not to mention modern seats have side airbags embedded, so it may be overly complicated if not impossible.
It also might not help. For an upholstery shop to redesign your seat cushions to try to make them comfortable for an individual is a real crap-shoot. It’s a lot to expect. Comfort goes well beyond just the padding. The seating height, seating position, suspension rates, pedal position, and steering wheel position and angle are all part of the equation.
That is very true about it being a crap shoot. And definitely don’t want to mess with the air bags. I’m going to try some different cushion options. I wish I knew what the problem was. It’s really bad…
I like the ride quality, it feels pretty smooth, so I don’t think that’s it. And my torso is pretty short and my legs long so I ride with the seat almost all the way up in terms of vertical adjustment.
I think the seat is incredibly hard and causes pressure points and I think the lumbar support is placed too low and the upper back is almost concave, so no support there.
Thanks for the input guys.
I wish you the best with this. I have a two-foot-high stack of different cushions that I tried. None of them worked. Hopefully you’ll have better luck.
Hello! I am now facing the identical problem with back pain and leg cramps. Any resolve to this?
Try a higher trim level. They often have different seats than the lower trim levels do. If that doesn’t work, find a different SUV.
@crsoda_171160 Even if you get a reply how would you know if that solution would even solve your problem . Seat comfort is so subjective that what ever they did might be even worse for you . Just keep looking for something that suits you the way it is .
+1
There are few things–other than political affiliation–that are as subjective as someone’s idea of seat comfort.
This post is more than 2 year old.The OP probably replaced his vehicule or he found a way to deal with this problem.I find that Hyundai and Kia have very poorly designed seats.
Which is likely why they asked what the OP’s solution was…
duh…