I love the front bucket seat in my Intrepid. With 200,000 miles, it’s starting to have some problems and I’m thinking ahead to the day when I have to replace it. I’m thinking of a newer, different manufacturer (since the Intrepid isn’t made anymore). I’ve sat in a few cars, and haven’t found one with the same level of comfort. I’m very sensitive to the seat as I’ve had back problems. What do you think about a seat transplant-moving my favorite Dodge seat into a different model?
Recaro makes seat that can be custom fitted to almost any car! They will cost you about $400+ but many happy customers rave about them.
Recaro does make some really nice seats, but not all of them are comfortable for every driver. IF you go that route, be sure the seats fit you well.
As far as transplanting your Intrepid seats into another car, a good fit is doubtful. ALL of the mounting holes would have to line up perfectly. Newer cars use shoulder belts that are explosively set in the event that the airbags pop. You didn’t say how old your Intrepid is, but if it doesn’t have this option, your “air bag light” would probably never go off, and therefor the bags would not pop if you had an accident.
Your best bet is to find a newer car with good seats that really fit. Don’t just test drive it around the block. Drive it for at least an hour without getting out.
Also, most newer cars have SRS sensors in the seats to try and tell how heavy you are and where the seat is. Many also have side airbags in the seats themselves. A seat transplant is not practical.
Anything’s possible with $$$$$, of course, but I wouldn’t, because seats are designed for specific cars, and it would be difficult to transplant one with a safe result.
I agree 100% with Mg McAnick, Tardis and Texases.
Whatever new car the OP winds up buying, it will have side airbags that likely deploy from the seatbacks. Even if the OP’s mystery vintage Intrepid has side airbags, the sensors necessary to fire the airbags in that seat likely will not be compatible with the new car’s SRS system. The result will be a constant SRS warning light and probable shutdown of the front airbags, and the side curtain airbags, as well as the side airbags.
Additionally, the seatbelt pretensioners likely would not activate properly–or at all-- with an electronic SRS error message being detected by the OBD system.
The OP needs to shop around as much as possible in order to test the seat comfort in a wide variety of new cars. Traditionally, Volvo has had the most comfortable seats, but there may be others that will meet his needs.
Unfortunately, if the OP decides to go with his current plan, he will wind up with a new car that is bereft of most of the passenger protection systems that were built into it.