OK Folks and Honda if you can reads this I have driven Honda Accords since 1985, I have owned 85 model, 1987, 1990, 1999 ,and now 2012. I traded in my beautiful 1985 to a new car dealer locally with 304,000 great miles. They put it on their new car showroom floor for 3 months. I recently sold my 1999 Accord EX to a family member with 398,000 miles still a great car and looking good. I was so proud to be able to get a certified Honda, and I spent some money to get it.... But the quality is really dropped with the accord. The ergonomics are terrible !!!! The seat is extremely uncomfortable, and the position of seat in relationship to steering wheel is wrong, the armrest, and door arm rest... Bad, bad !!

I don't know how many Honda's I have sold by word of mouth and example.... Honda owes me on this one. I cannot afford to sell it, or trade it.. so I am stuck with it for a while.. Unhappy

Just found out , that so many people have the same problem I have. Purchased Honda Accord in August 2012. In mid December went to the doctor with mid back pain complaint. Doctor prescribed pchysical therapy. After 15 visits pain eased a bit. I was doing excersises at home. Pain is back and became chronic. I could not belive after reading all complaints on your website, that this pain is related to the car seat.

I don't know what to do now? Sell the car? Wait for the recall? I hope Honda will do somethiong.

The slanted head rest angles uncomfortably into the back of my head. The way it pushes my head forward makes my neck hurt. This is especially disturbing because I specifically bought the car because of back problems. My chiropractor recommended getting more lumbar support. The power lumbar support is fine, but the headrest is awful. When I called the dealer, they said this was a "feature" and made the car safer in an accident. Maybe it does, but surely there is a way to make a car safe AND comfortable. The car seat felt fine on the short test drives. It was the long 3 hour commuting that s a problem.

Since purchasing the vehicle my back and neck have deteriorated significantly, and I have never had any back or neck issues nor did I change any part of my active life style. Now I suffer from chronic neck and back pain to the point where I will be trading the vehicle in order to be able to solve the problem and return to a normal life style.

If thinking of purchasing this vehicle I highly recommend against it unless the seat is repaired or replaced with a aftermarket brand.

Other than a seat that is crippling me, the car has been great and reliable.

My health was excellent as of the morning of 5/26/2012 prior to driving the 2012 Honda Accord EX sedan. I was free of pain in my entire body including my back.

~9:30 am 5/26/2012: I (Dean Nimmo) contacted Ryan Hennessy of Carbone Honda via phone to arrange vehicle purchase. In that conversation, I relayed concerns about driver’s seat discomfort cases posted on Edmunds.com by current owners of 2012 Honda Accords. Ryan explained that he had never heard of complaints from current owners of Accords and that the person complaining was likely blaming the car seat for their personal health problems, meaning he was of the opinion the 2012 Accord driver’s seat did nothing to contribute to discomfort.

~11 am – 2 pm: Vehicle purchased for Dean Nimmo with Dayna Nimmo as purchasing authority.

2pm – 3:30 pm: I drove the vehicle from Carbone Honda to our residence in Syracuse, NY. The drive was approximately 60 miles with duration of about 75 minutes. Immediately upon arriving in Syracuse, I contacted Ryan Hennessy to communicate that my back was experiencing noticeable discomfort while driving and operating the Accord. Upon exiting the vehicle and walking my back continued experiencing continuous sustained pain in the lower portion of my back.

My experience operating the Honda Accord on the date of purchase indicates sitting in the driver’s seat for excess of an hour with sound posture and best-case seat adjustments caused all back pain issues I was experiencing. The Honda Accord driver’s seat is the only variable and is solely responsible for my back pain; all variables considered, age, sex, height, weight, weather, office chair, 2003 Ford Ranger Driver’s Chair, etc. The driver’s seat is defective and over a very brief duration demonstrates the potential to adversely impact a person’s health in a harmful manner.

I will handle complaints with Carbone Honda directly with their staff. The staff was polite and courteous but ignorant to my pro-active inquiry about driver’s seat discomfort concerns.

More details to follow: This note is intended to identify a general summary of events and concerns. Also note, in addition to complaints communicated to the dealer, this case was opened with Honda America within 6 days of the purchase.

I was advised by a Honda America agent that I would be contacted again by Honda America by phone on Monday June 4th. You are welcome and encouraged to contact me with specific questions regarding our 2012 Honda Accord experience. I’m looking forward to working with Honda to address this matter expeditiously.

Seats are designed extremely badly - they made some change from prior year(s), as I have been an Accord owner for many years, and I have never had neck ad back problems caused by its seats before. I noticed the issue right away after driving it for about a half hour - you just don't do that at the dealership. If I had had the car for a day or so to drive, I would NOT have bought it due to this problem.

Issues: Headrest is tilted forward in such a way that it causes neck and back pain. The seat itself is not comfortable - kind of slumped and cupped in a bad way. Promotes PAIN and very poor posture for someone 5'4" (me). If you remove headrest, you have just screwed yourself out of a safety feature. I can't believe Honda, as a good company, is not responding to people's complaints about this. My neck and back problems caused by this now require medical attention, and I am seriously thinking of selling the car and never buying another Honda product again, if they don't make it right soon.

What were they thinking to change something that was working ok? The older accord seats were NOT the greatest, but they did not actively promote pain and suffering.

THE SEATS AND HEAD RESTS HAS BEEN POORLY DESIGNED. IT LOOKS THAT THESE HAS BEEN DESIGNED FOR MEN HAVING A HEIGHT OF MORE THAN 6 FEET. I HAVE A STANDARD HEIGHT OF 5'-9'. WHEN I REST MY HEAD TO THE HEAD REST, IT TOUCHES ONLY LESS THAN ONE CM TO THE HEAD REST. I CAN NOT LOWER DOWN THE HEIGHT OF HEAD REST BECAUSE THE BACK OF THE SEAT IS TOO HIGH. THERE IS A BIG GAP BETWEEN NECK AND HEAD REST. I HAVE MADE A ROUGH SKETCH OF THIS SITUATION BUT I DON'T KNOW HOW TO SEND IT TO YOU. THE MOST DANGEROUS ASPECT OF THIS DESIGN IS THAT IF A SPEEDY CAR OR TRUCK HITS MY CAR IN THE BACK, MY HEAD WILL STOP WITH HEAD REST AND BODY WILL STOP WITH BACK OF SEAT BUT NECK, HAVING NO SUPPORT BACKWARD, WILL BENT AND MAY BE BROKEN AND ULTIMATELY MAY CAUSE OF DEATH. I FAXED IT IN DETAILS TO HONDA CUSTOMER SERVICE, TORRANCE, CA90501 ON 12/3/12 WITH SKETCH AND FAXED THREE TIMES EVERY WEEK. I ALSO ADVISED THEM TO MAKE AN EXPERIMENT: HAVE A DUMMY OF MAN MADE OF BROKEN GLASS, SEAT IT IN THE CAR, BUCKLE UP AND HIT THE CAR FORCIBLY IN THE BACK, THE NECK OF DUMMY WILL BE BROKEN. I TOLD THEM THAT THE CAR WAS GARAGED FOR THE LAST MORE THAN ONE MONTH AT 8024 MILES ODOMETER READING, TAKE THIS FAULTY CAR BACK AND RETURN MY MONEY. AFTER MORE THAN 40 DAYS, I RECEIVED A PHONE CALL FROM HONDA CUSTOMER SERVICE THAT MY CLAIM WAS REJECTED AS THE CAR WAS NOT FOUND FAULTY. I REQUEST YOU TO PLEASE CHECK THIS FAULT AND TAKE NECESSARY ACTION AT YOUR END. I AM READY TO HAND OVER THE CAR TO YOU. I AM NOT USING THIS CAR ANY MORE.