Forester pain in the neck

[revano]

I have buoght a used 1998 Forester recently and like it a lot. It's a great car and it gives me exactly the off-road capacity (i.e. not that much) that I'm looking for in my car. However, every time I make a trip with my wife as either passenger or driver, even during relatively short trips of about 30 minutes, she complains about a pain in the neck that ultimately leads to a nasty headache.

Is there someone who has experienced such a problem too, and can they give me some advice on how to address this? (Please spare me any 'funny' responses, because I've thought of most of them myself, and this is a serious problem for me).

Many thanks.

[NoahDL88]

theres the obvious, raise or lower the head rest to make it fit the head better, i dunno if you have them on the passenger side, but the lumbar can make a big difference. might angle the seat back more, or less.

 

Maybe add a pillow, one of those small travel ones, and move it till she feels more comfortable.

[cookie]

Look back a few pages or search on seats. there were quite a few good hints folks have posted recently.

[Commuter]

I don't know specifically about the Forester seats, but I can relate to what you are saying. Many cars do not give me the back support that I need. One common complaint I have is that there is often a little divot in the seat in the shoulder area. This rounds my shoulders slightly, causing neck strain and will give me a headache. (People usually complain about low back / lumbar support. I have those issues too. Some cars get it right, some are adjustable enough that I can get it right, others just won't do.)

 

My solution for the past 20 years or so has been the Obus Forme back support. The low back model. This fills in the "divot" (as well as providing great lumbar support) and takes the strain off my shoulders. Wonderful product. You do lose a little bit of seat length as a result, but I'm not tall, so that isn't an issue with me. How tall is your wife?

 

Commuter

[revano]

theres the obvious, raise or lower the head rest to make it fit the head better, i dunno if you have them on the passenger side, but the lumbar can make a big difference. might angle the seat back more, or less.

 

Maybe add a pillow, one of those small travel ones, and move it till she feels more comfortable.

 

Thanks NoahDL88, I'll give that a go.

[revano]

I don't know specifically about the Forester seats, but I can relate to what you are saying. Many cars do not give me the back support that I need. One common complaint I have is that there is often a little divot in the seat in the shoulder area. This rounds my shoulders slightly, causing neck strain and will give me a headache. (People usually complain about low back / lumbar support. I have those issues too. Some cars get it right, some are adjustable enough that I can get it right, others just won't do.)

 

My solution for the past 20 years or so has been the Obus Forme back support. The low back model. This fills in the "divot" (as well as providing great lumbar support) and takes the strain off my shoulders. Wonderful product. You do lose a little bit of seat length as a result, but I'm not tall, so that isn't an issue with me. How tall is your wife?

 

Commuter

 

Hi Commuter. Thanks for the suggestion. I've had a look at a few web sites, and the Obus looks very good. I'll try a few low-tech and low-cost suggestions (like home made pillows etc) first, before I get into the more expensive stuff.

[Seahag1978]

Don't limit the cause of her pain to the seats. Check your windshield for waves and distortion. I have had this happen to me 3 times. One was a brand new car... it gave me severe headaches after 10 minutes. In all 3 cases the glass in the windshields were distorted.

 

I don't wear glasses while driving, and the effect was awful with me... I would even get car sick while driving! Things would shrink and grow as I drove past them.

 

Tim wears glasses so he already has distortion and couldn't see it until he looked through it at a brick wall. The mortar joints got all wavy as he moved his head from side to side.

 

I have found Subaru seats to be among the most comfortable ones out there... even my little Brat seats are comfy. No seats were better than my 1991 Mazda Protege...

[1 Lucky Texan]

Good info on the glass distortion. Also, some people develop headaches from 'outgassing' of plasticizers in new cars, or after carpet/upholstery work. I wouldn't discount the possibility of an exhaust leak either.

 

 

My wife's last car, Ford Windstar van, would sometimes cause 2 fingers on my left hand to get numb on long drives. It had 8 way electri adjustable seats IIRC but I never was able to make the problem better. No other car did/does that to me.

[Roamer]

I have buoght a used 1998 Forester recently and like it a lot. It's a great car and it gives me exactly the off-road capacity (i.e. not that much) that I'm looking for in my car. However, every time I make a trip with my wife as either passenger or driver, even during relatively short trips of about 30 minutes, she complains about a pain in the neck that ultimately leads to a nasty headache.

Is there someone who has experienced such a problem too, and can they give me some advice on how to address this? (Please spare me any 'funny' responses, because I've thought of most of them myself, and this is a serious problem for me).

Many thanks.

 

I use to drive a crappy 1990 Ford Taurus Wagon, and I use to always get a headache/clogged ears which led to pain in my neck everytime I drove the thing long distance. It was a mystery to me why this would happen, b/c whenever I drove my dads subie long distance everything was fine. It was a very serious problem for me, but I couldnt explain the phenomenon to anyone, they just looked at me like I had 3 heads.

 

Long story short the problem that the Taurus had was the venting system, the Taurus does not allow any air to flow naturally into the cabin of the car when the vent controls were off. The Subaru has I guess what I would call a free flow through air system, which you can regulate by either the passenger side and drivers side air vent. Which allows air to naturally flow thorugh the cabin. The Taurus doesnt have this option at all it will not allow any air into the car unless you have the A/c/Heat on.

 

So what was happening was that during long trips the pressure inside the Taurus would not match the air pressure outside which would then lead to my problems, so I would have to every often either turn on the vent controls or roll down a window.

 

So possibly, it may be a far strech but I guess you should rule out everything else, check to see if your vent is in the on position and allowing air into the cabin.