2014 EL Limited - Seat Swap from F150's or 18+ Expeditions

[LJ4174]

Hi All...

So we've owned our Expedition EL Limited now for a year and 3 months now. I am trying to love it, but having issues with the front seats. I am 5'8" and my wife is 5'2" - we can not get comfortable in these seats. The angle of the headrest annoys us both and on the driver's seat it feels like I'm sitting on super balls, one on each side, at the top of my butt / hip area. Like it just hits a pressure point or something... I drove it for a 6 hour round trip on Saturday and I could barely walk when I got out of it. Is my seat broken? I have tried various positions and lumbar settings and nothing is doing the trick. In my 2000 Excursion, or my 2005 Explorer, I have no issues. I travel for work a bunch and rent cars a bunch, I don't have these issues in other cars, just my expedition.

We bought the truck with 17,000 miles on it, and it only has 26,000 on it now. I "think" the previous owner spent a lot of time in it, perhaps in stop and go traffic. Not sure if that would matter or be a factor in the seat being broken or worn out. On my Explorer, there was a plastic lumbar piece that broke in the back of the seat and it was very noticeable. I don't notice anything in particular on the Expedition, just that the seat is uncomfortable...

I "think" they changed the seats in the F-150's in 2016 and the Expeditions in 2018. I sat in a 2018 earlier this year and it felt night and day over my 2014. Would any of these newer seats work in my truck? Even though they may bolt in, will the safety components work and connect? I want to love this SUV, but I just don't and I'm hoping someone here can talk me out of trading it in...

Thanks...

LJ

 

[turtle019]

I'm about your height, and it took me a while too to find a comfortable seating position. I ended up pushing my headrest all the way up and playing with the seat back angle until it felt right. It is still very close to my head, but it's not making me tilt forward anymore. I know some people turn the headrests around to get more space, but I don't recommend this. The reason they are positioned so far forward is to reduce the risk of neck injury in crashes. My lumbar support still feels a bit off. I'm not sure if the previous owner wore it out or if that's just the way it is

I have no idea how the airbag geometries compare between your seat and a newer once. Even if it could electrically connect at best it might not provide the correct level of protection and at worst it could actually increase the risk of injury. Beyond that I'd think you'd have a hard time getting the control modules to play nicely. Do you have the memory seats/mirrors? On 3rd gen the memory position is controlled by the driver seat control module. I'm not sure what module drives it on 4th gen or F series

I like the idea, but it sounds like you're concerned with preserving the safety features of the vehicle so personally I wouldn't risk the swap. There's just too many unknowns. Maybe see if you can test drive others of the same generation and see how the seats feel to decide if your seat is broken or just not a good fit for you. At only 26k miles I'd hope it would still be good, but you never know what previous owners might have done. If other 3rd gens feel good try to swap like with like to keep all original features intact

 

[Jamo]

At 5'9", my '14 EL Limited seats have been great from day one...for me anyway. I'm at 86,000 miles now, bought it earlier this year 6,000 miles ago. Still comfy for me, but I did play with all the controls until I found the back, the tilt, & the height to be nice. I like the save button on the settings too. Good luck...

 

[Dennis_H]

I have a 2010 and did take the headrest off and bend the support so it wasn't quite as far forward. It was way too much also. My wife wears her hair pulled back and that made it even worse for her. Other than that, the seats have been OK.

 

[mjp2]

I have a 2010 and did take the headrest off and bend the support so it wasn't quite as far forward. It was way too much also. My wife wears her hair pulled back and that made it even worse for her. Other than that, the seats have been OK.

I did the same on my 2010 headrests right after I bought the truck. The factory position of those things is just terrible.

For those that haven't tried it, bending is easy if you have a vise. Clamp one of the rods into the bolted-down vise, slide a piece of metal pipe over the unclamped rod, and in one motion push the top of the headrest while pulling on the bottom of the metal pipe to get it to your desired angle. Repeat with the other rod, make sure they line up, and pop it back into your truck.

 

[iamretired]

Got a 2015, she is 5'5, I am 6'2, head rest angle bad. I bought pillow for her to try and bought another for me. Works well. Not an endorsement for seller or product but this shape worked first attempt, tilting seat to each of our own angle. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HNBDG1J/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1