I seem to be obsessed with the rear seat in my 2019 CX 5 signature. I have owned this car for 8 months now and I really like this car, however with any car after you live with it for a while you start to see it's short comings. Now don't misunderstand me here the pros with this car far outweigh the cons, but one issue with this car for me that seems to preoccupy my thoughts is the cars rear seat. I came from a 2011 Honda Accord and the rear seat in this car was good. However, with the CX 5 I fine the rear seat is obnoxiously tight. I'm 6'1" and to sit behind myself is not great, because I feel the back of the front seat is in my personal space. The front seat is too tight on my knees and the upper part is too close to my face. However, when I check the back seat dimensions of the car it seems to fall some where around the middle of the pack with 39.6 inches of rear seat leg room. Compare that with others in it's class like the Rav4 which as 37.8, Hyundai Tucson with 38.2 or the Ford Escape with 39.2. However, when you sit behind yourself in these cars the space is a very acceptable amount of rear sear room. My question is how do car manufactures determine the second row leg room? Please don't guess or speculate if you don't know, I was looking for someone that as done this research and know the answer or someone in the industry. Thanks.

 

My good freind is Head of the group engineering and product design for BMW regarding interiors. When I asked him once....platforms universally are the same and the criterion for new model was derived from the sales numbers of target models and customer surveys. Rear passenger area is one of the least on the list from any auto manufacture for a priority with a few model exceptions from most all and really any auto manufacture line of vehicles. So while they do not totally disregard rear passenger comfort and amenities unless it is a luxury sedan or specific high passenger capacity model in their line up their is less likely to be great attention on rear passenger comfort levels.

 

When I bought my '21 CX-5, I recognized it had less legroom than my previous 2016 Suburu Outback. However, the Mazda is my "runaround" which rarely sees passengers in the back seat. So, for me, it was and is a non-issue. On the-other-hand, the CX-5 is shorter in length and better handling than the Suburu. That was at trade-off I understood and was willing to make.

So, if you don't often have tall passengers in the back seat, it is a non-issue, right? Now, enjoy the all pro's of your CX-5 Signature.

 

Because, the front seat as the ability to move, do you know what position the front seat should be in when they take the measurement?

 

This is likely not what you want to read and may not answer your exact question?
This is NOT an easy answer and there are literally hundreds of measurements and consideration most of them has to do with driver safety. And yes sorry to say some size individuals are considered not to be average (physical size and height) so there are vehicles that some people should technically not be driving for their own safety as well as other sharing the road! Not sure how some politician's (D) would set Federal regulation pertaining to that! lol

 

I don't see how your reply has anything to do with my question. I'm trying to determine how all manufacture get their leg room numbers.

 

lol ..not sure either

 

My suggestion is, whenever possible, do not sit behind yourself!

 

Conrad..... Your response made me laugh !! Such a logical true statement
I own 2 BMW/MINI 's while the front seat area will easily and comfortably acomedate a person of 250-300lbs and up to 6.6 the rear area for me at 6 foot and 175lb I need be an accomplished yoga experts to be comfortable, so you will never see me sitting in the rear of my MINI's or my MAZDA 3. In fact I removed the center seat belt, all rear head rests and have secured the other 2 rear passenger seat belts under the lower cushion rendering them not easily accessible and in essence call my MAZDA 3 a 2 seater.

 

funny