Wobbling passenger seat back

[Passfeller52]

Hi all,

I realized that when I drive alone in my Prelude, the seat back on the passenger side wobbles like crazy, sometimes even making slight clattering noises (when the clasp of the safety belt and the moving sidewall hit each other). I have never seen any other seat in any of my cars do that. It seems to be a thing of these newly designed seats, the passenger seat in a different Prelude I test drove did the same.
Any ideas how to fix that?

 

[Alfettaman76]

I've just tried wobbling the seat backs on my Prelude, but they lock very firmly into position and barely move at all. Maybe some other owners can chime in too, to help you work out whether this is a 'defect' or a 'feature' !

My (UK) car is right-hand drive, so I'm wondering if this might be an issue with left-hand drive cars only? The driver and passenger seats in a Prelude are different to each other, so LHD cars will have completely different seats to a RHD car.

 

[nicki91]

I haven't noticed this problem on my Prelude...
I'll keep an ear out for it in the future.

 

[Passfeller52]

I've just tried wobbling the seat backs on my Prelude, but they lock very firmly into position and barely move at all. Maybe some other owners can chime in too, to help you work out whether this is a 'defect' or a 'feature' !

My (UK) car is right-hand drive, so I'm wondering if this might be an issue with left-hand drive cars only? The driver and passenger seats in a Prelude are different to each other, so LHD cars will have completely different seats to a RHD car.

Thanks for your feedback. That's interesting ... If you hit the upper third of the seat back with your fist, it stays firmly in place and does not wiggle?

I don't think it has anything to do with if the car is a right-hand drive or a left-hand drive. The inner structure of the seats should all be the same, just the levers for the seat adjustment would be on different sides & the wider seat (for the passenger) moves to the opposite side.

 

[Passfeller52]

I haven't noticed this problem on my Prelude...
I'll keep an ear out for it in the future.

Thank you for your feedback. Maybe you could hit the upper third of the seat back with your fist the next time you are inside the car & tell me if it does wobble or stay firm? Thanks!

 

[Alfettaman76]

Thanks for your feedback. That's interesting ... If you hit the upper third of the seat back with your fist, it stays firmly in place and does not wiggle? ...

Whatever I do with the seat back, it remains securely locked in position and without any wobble or wiggle...

 

[Passfeller52]

Whatever I do with the seat back, it remains securely locked in position and without any wobble or wiggle...

Thanks. Mine stays locked, too, only the back seems way less stable than I know it from other cars. I consider it rather lightly built and shaky. (But maybe that is only because my last car was a Lexus ES which had large, heavy, super comfortable seats ...)

 

[Jusbs54915]

Mine stays locked, but the back release lever is soooo hard to pull up!
AND THEN when you go to put the seat back it does not automatically go back to the original position.,

 

[Passfeller52]

Mine stays locked, but the back release lever is soooo hard to pull up!
AND THEN when you go to put the seat back it does not automatically go back to the original position.,

I think we can all agree these seats were not built to be folded forward. Honda seriously does not encourage people to put anyone back into the second row.

 

[Jusbs54915]

I think we can all agree these seats were not built to be folded forward. Honda seriously does not encourage people to put anyone back into the second row.

Oh I fully agree on sitting back there...but when taking the car on a vacation or to Costco it's be nice to easily reach into the back seat to grab an item

 

[faithboy15]

Hi all,

I realized that when I drive alone in my Prelude, the seat back on the passenger side wobbles like crazy, sometimes even making slight clattering noises (when the clasp of the safety belt and the moving sidewall hit each other). I have never seen any other seat in any of my cars do that. It seems to be a thing of these newly designed seats, the passenger seat in a different Prelude I test drove did the same.
Any ideas how to fix that?

I’ve noticed the same thing with the passenger seat at speeds above 120 km/h resp. 75 mph.

You can rarely set things down on the smooth seat surface, either, since it is designed differently from the driver's seat—with shallower side bolsters, for instance—so everything immediately slides off to the side around even the slightest curve.

 

[rexracer22]

Hi all,

I realized that when I drive alone in my Prelude, the seat back on the passenger side wobbles like crazy, sometimes even making slight clattering noises (when the clasp of the safety belt and the moving sidewall hit each other). I have never seen any other seat in any of my cars do that. It seems to be a thing of these newly designed seats, the passenger seat in a different Prelude I test drove did the same.
Any ideas how to fix that?

It might be a seat harmonics problem. It is a common issue for engineers to have to deal with when engineering cars. Other car brands like BMW had issues with bad harmonics making seats shake or vibrate. Their solution was to install a harmonic balancing weight in the seats. The mechanical harmonic balancing weight looked like a large metal hockey puck on a metal strap. I always thought it was funny BMW was all about precision engineering and light weight performance cars and they had to instal a heavy device like that to fix a problem. Other cars have harmonic balancing weights under the car on exhaust components. I think Honda or Toyota did in some vehicles?

 

[inventor32]

An interesting thought about a harmonics problem with the seat.
However wouldn't that affect everyone's 2026 Prelude?
I might be wrong, but the UK owners don't appear to be reporting the issue, based on the small sample of users at this forum.
Perhaps a combination of tyre (tire!) selection and LHD models?
I'd be curious to know if the Australian cars have the issue.

Also there are likely subtle differences in weight between cars for different markets and that could indeed change the harmonic frequencies.
For example in the UK and EU we have extra camera equipment watching the driver.
I guess also some of the other optional extras such as rear spoiler are going to have some kind of impact at higher speeds.
My feeling is that the wobbly seats are a defect and I'd be going back to my Honda dealer.

 

[rexracer22]

An interesting thought about a harmonics problem with the seat.
However wouldn't that affect everyone's 2026 Prelude?
I might be wrong, but the UK owners don't appear to be reporting the issue, based on the small sample of users at this forum.
Perhaps a combination of tyre (tire!) selection and LHD models?
I'd be curious to know if the Australian cars have the issue.

Also there are likely subtle differences in weight between cars for different markets and that could indeed change the harmonic frequencies.
For example in the UK and EU we have extra camera equipment watching the driver.
I guess also some of the other optional extras such as rear spoiler are going to have some kind of impact at higher speeds.
My feeling is that the wobbly seats are a defect and I'd be going back to my Honda dealer.

I would have them check the wheels for balance and go from there.

 

[faithboy15]

What does the surface of the driver's seat look like on yours? Due to the manufacturing process, the leather isn't stretched taut—since it needs to "breathe" or "flex," and so on—which results in some rippling, especially if you weigh more than just 50 kilos or so. I’m fine with it, but it is certainly noticeable.

 

[nyon11]

I took possession of mine today and notice the same wobble on the passenger seat. Not all road surfaces, just some roads, mostly concrete. Tried it in different drive modes to see if it was a suspension issue and noticed no difference.

The stock Goodyear tires suck and I’m switching them out for Pirelli P Zero AS Plus 3’s later this week, curious if that will make for less “seat rattle”.

 

[faithboy15]

I would be very surprised if other tires avoided a "wobbly fit"; were the GoodYears square? That doesn't really make sense, though.

 

[Passfeller52]

An interesting thought about a harmonics problem with the seat.
However wouldn't that affect everyone's 2026 Prelude?
I might be wrong, but the UK owners don't appear to be reporting the issue, based on the small sample of users at this forum.

I have come to realize the phenomenon only occurs when the seat is in a certain range of positions (seat relatively far back, seat back tilted to certain degrees). The other thing is I have very good ears & despise cabin noise (this goes back to me driving an Alfa Romeo, which was the most rattly and squeaky car I ever owned). So it may as well be an issue in other cars, but people just haven't noticed it.
I will talk to my dealer about it, soon. Maybe he can stabilize the seat (which in my eyes is pretty lightweight).

 

[Passfeller52]

What does the surface of the driver's seat look like on yours? Due to the manufacturing process, the leather isn't stretched taut—since it needs to "breathe" or "flex," and so on—which results in some rippling, especially if you weigh more than just 50 kilos or so. I’m fine with it, but it is certainly noticeable.

Same here. Leather is not taut as in a fresh Volvo or BMW. It appears to be less noticeable if you have a wider bottom, but if you are quite lean (like me) and your bodily seating surface is narrower, you tend to sink in deeper/stretch the leather more. Anyhow, not quite what I'd have expected from a new car ...

 

[Passfeller52]

Also there are likely subtle differences in weight between cars for different markets and that could indeed change the harmonic frequencies.
For example in the UK and EU we have extra camera equipment watching the driver.
I guess also some of the other optional extras such as rear spoiler are going to have some kind of impact at higher speeds.
My feeling is that the wobbly seats are a defect and I'd be going back to my Honda dealer.

I am pretty sure the seats do not differ for different markets. Only the position of the drivers seat (more bolstered) changes with the position of the steering wheel.
The demonstrator car I test drove had the same issue, the rattle from the passenger side was the first thing I did notice in there. Seems to be a common problem to me, only not too many people noticing it (yet).
Will have the dealer check the seat as soon as I am in the dealership next time.