WOW, after three hard months of trying to get any information I can and learning things the hard way, you all have summarized all I've learned and then some in less than 24 hours!!!

To follow up: The pain begins as a stiffness in the neck and then upper shoulders and progresses to the point where everything seems locked up (at which point getting out of the car becomes my number one priority!). Most of my experiments have been done just sitting in the car. I've tried every seat adjustment and can get the pain to be centralized either in the neck, the mid-back, the lower back or a combination. The lumbar support is best left out; putting it in causes instant pain. The most intense pain ends when I get out of the car but significant residual levels remain after. When I'm in the car, the pain gets to the point where I feel nauseous. I missed work because of neck pain for the first time since 1998 trying to "make the car work".

I noticed the headrest protrusion and initially thought of raising myself up but a physical therapist at the Spine Institute of New England suggested a cushion to push me forward. That helped some. (She also said "It is the car, not you. Don't expect to break yourself in to this car!")

Next I realized the anti-submarining bump on the front of the seat was also a problem; lifting my thighs up and messing up the ergonomic 90 degree angle of my knees to the floor. I tried to fashion a cushion to fill in and make the height the same as the front of the seat. It helped a bit more but still within about 15 minutes I HAD to get out of the car.

My next idea was to use an engineering curve to trace out the shape of my Acura seat and try to match it as closely as possible with cushions I cut to fit. Again, some improvement but not to the point where I felt like I could actually drive the car without feeling like I wanted to ditch it by the side of the road!

During all this, I contacted an upholstery place for cars and the guy said he could fashion some cushions but they'd change in six months and he recommended I find a car that is comfortable to begin with. A second guy said "Oh, we'll just raise you up and give you some lumbar support etc..." Clearly he didn't get that this wasn't just a "I don't feel comfy" problem.

I also tried various products from office products to actuall $$ items from medical stores. No luck. I have a Back-Cycler which helps in long road trips in other cars but made no difference here.

Then I found out about Recaro seats. Unfortunately, the only dealer in Vermont doesn't have any seats I could try and I would absolutely have to sit in one (for a while!!) and I still wouldn't know what it was like to sit in one and drive, too. Also Recaro said there isn't a bracket for the Volvo S40 and I'd have to cob something. So I started thinking if I put a new seat in and THEN discover IT isn't comfortable either, I've got a hacked up car and I'll lose even more money. They also acted like reversing it might be a problem. I had similar thoughts about the idea of an old Volvo seat from a junkyard.

I was shocked to hear Volvo had a neck support cushion. After all my interactions with the local dealer and Volvo customer service, no one mentioned this. I must say that it looks like it would only increase the torture as it would eliminate the ability to stretch, rotate etc.

I guess part of this is a confidence problem. The S40 felt okay during the test drive but the physical therapist thinks I was probably hunched over looking at the controls. I tried trading cars with my husband but he finds the seat somewhat uncomfortable (and I couldn't ever be a passenger, either) and his Audi wasn't as comfortable as my Acura.

The car seems like an albatross now. I got it through the Overseas Delivery program which people don't seem to get ("Does it meet US emissions standards?", for example), it has less than 300 miles on it which makes people wonder what is wrong with it, and to sell it I'm competing against 0% financing and $4-5000 incentives (although our local dealer has sold all the 2002 S40s). I even took it to an auction place.

So folks, how big a problem do you think the Recaro seat modification would be? Would you consider a homemade bracket a non-issue?

Money isn't the biggest consideration. I'm mostly tired of being held hostage by a car I ordered in March which finally arrived in July and has been a huge problem every since!!!

I can't thank you all enough. This is an amazing forum! Both my husband and I are astonished by how much effort and info you put into this!

Regards,
Christy

P.S. I got the whiplash injury in the Acura Integra. Maybe if I'd had a Volvo I wouldn't be having this discussion now!