How Lumbar Support Works and Why It Stinks
 

The lumbar support in the driver's seat of my 2006 6s collapsed after 900 miles. The dealer replaced the lumbar device after a 2-MONTH wait to get the part. Within a month, it broke again. I have a bad back so I crank it pretty far out. I'm 190 lbs and that shouldn't have to be a problem. I decided to go inside the seat myself and see what the scoop is...

It is not an inflatable bladder, but rather a cable-actuated mechanism. The hand crank spools up a cable, pulling on it much in the same manner that a bicycle gear-change lever does. The cable is surrounded by a plastic sheath (like the bike), comes around from under and up to the right of where the lumbar "device" is inside the seatback. The end of the sheath is a hard plastic cap that "mounts" on the right side of this very cheaply-made plastic contraption. From the cap, the exposed cable continues to run along the width of this device, hooked in several times along the way to the other side where it is tied in.

The contraption to which the cable is attached is a series of vertical plastic ribs about 8" in height, attached in accordion-like fashion... When you tighten the cable, it pulls the ribs together. It's shaped so that when they're pulled together, they push forward into the lumbar area of the seat.

That's it!

So why does it break? Because the cap of the sheath, where the cable first mounts to the device, is simply "snapped" in. No different than how you would store drill bits in a case... you snap the bits into their place, but you can easily pull them out. Same here... a couple of cheap little plastic tabs holds the cable housing cap in place, but it can easily be snapped right out with your own two fingers. Very bad idea. So sure enough, if you crank the lumbar up fairly high, the cable mount becomes the cheif pressure point and is the weakest link in the chain. It is prone to just popping out of its mount as a result. When it does, the cable of course loses all its tension and the device goes to its fully-relaxed position and cannot be adjusted. The moment this occurs feels like a balloon just popped inside your seat.

So, I can have the dealer keep replacing this piece of junk or I can get in there with some heavy-duty epoxy and permanently seal it into place. How annoying that I have to do this with a new car.

RE: How Lumbar Support Works and Why It Stinks
 

I don't even see how that ever looks like it wa sa good idea at th efactory. I normally praise Mazda engineers but this is unnacceptable. they should've put a little spring loaded metal clip for it (like when you open a gate and it locks itself when it swings closed and you have to pull back against the pressure of the spring with you thumb)

RE: How Lumbar Support Works and Why It Stinks
 

i hav an 06 6 as well
playin around wit the drivers seat lead me to come to the same conclusion

i wound the lumbar to the tightest (most support), and used my hand to push into the seatback..
****in felt like the cloth was about to rip

weighing 170 lbs i decideed to play it safe. so i lessened it
overall the seat is very nice. except for the lumbar

who cares. i migght get recaros anyways :)

RE: How Lumbar Support Works and Why It Stinks
 

do ittt