What you lose when you don't adjust your car seat correctly

MUNICH: The potential for improvement is high: Surveys show that most drivers don’t sit optimally in their car seats. This not only affects comfort, but more importantly, safety.

If the backrest is set too flat, there’s an increased risk of injury to the neck in the event of an accident. And if the seat is positioned too close to the steering wheel the deployment of the airbag could also cause injuries.

For those reasons, people should pay close attention to the driver’s seat before buying a car, German technical inspectorate Tüv Süd advises. That includes testing out the seat by sitting in it.

It’s important that the seat height, the seat angle, and the length of the seat surface can be individually adjusted to the body shape. If the seat has pronounced lateral support, all the better because then the body is prevented from slipping.

If the seat in the model of car you want to buy doesn't quite fit, optimised seats can be the solution. Some manufacturers offer these in addition to the standard seat at extra cost.

Third-party seats and conversions are also possible but these can be expensive. Alternatively, those who are flexible in their choice of car can look for another model.

You can also make the seat in a car you already own as safe as possible. Tüv Süd advises that the backrest of the seat should be positioned almost vertically.

The headrest should be adjusted so that its upper edge is at the height of the crown of the head and its distance from the head does not exceed 4 cm - advice that applies to all of the car’s occupants.

Passengers can adjust the backrest further back, but the belt should always be tight against the body. Otherwise, there is a risk of the submarining effect where people slide under the seat belt in rear-end collisions.

Drivers should make sure that their legs remain slightly bent when the clutch pedal is depressed; a flat hand should still fit between the thigh and the seat.

A driver sits optimally when they can rest their wrists on the steering wheel with their arms outstretched and with their shoulder blades still in contact with the backrest.

They should also be able to see all of the instruments, especially the warning lights and speedometer. If the steering wheel can be adjusted, this can be helpful.

According to Tüv Süd, anyone who takes a close look at their seating position will drive more comfortably and prevent tension.

The wrong seating position, on the other hand, can be torture for the head and neck, especially on monotonous highway journeys where the posture hardly changes.