Being a safe driver begins before you even start your engine.
And one of the things i'm talking about is having your driver's seat
properly adjusted so you can reach all the controls
and steer your vehicle safely.
So let's go over the basics of how to adjust your
driver's seat.
First of all i'm going to mess up my
seat a little bit from what i'm normally used to,
just to get a fresh start.
And i'm going to take off my seat belt before i make my adjustments.
So starting with you sitting all the way back in your seat,
make sure your rear end is all the way to the back of your seat,
and your shoulders are back.
We're going to adjust the height of the seat.
Adjust your seat up or down so that you have a clear view across the middle of
your windshield of the road and any traffic.
You also want to be able to clearly see over your dash
and your steering wheel.
One more thing to consider with the height of your seat
is how much headroom do you have.
Having two to four inches would be nice.
Sometimes you can't have that, but if you can,
adjust your seat down a little bit. More headroom is better.
If you would
ever be involved in a rollover accident, you'd want all the space between your
head and the roof that you could get.
Now we're going to
move the seat backwards or forwards so we can easily operate the pedals,
and so our legs are in a comfortable driving position.
So i'm going to move my seat forward.
You want to get your seat in a position
where, with the heel of your foot on the floor, you can
fully depress the pedals all the way to the floor without stretching your leg.
If you're having to stretch your leg to depress the pedals all the way to the floor,
then you don't have good control of your vehicle.
And also if you're having to stretch your legs to control those pedals,
you're causing more driver fatigue for yourself.
For driving comfort and less fatigue, you
also want to have your legs slightly bent.
You want to have at least a couple of finger's space between the back of your
knee and the seat.
That gives you a comfortable more
relaxed position.
Having a bend in your leg is also a lot
safer for you.
If you get involved in an accident,
if you're driving with your legs stretched out and stiff and you get hit,
there's a lot more chance of having injury to your leg
because of that.
And to also lessen driver fatigue,
you should have your left foot all the way over to the side.
A lot of vehicles have what's called a dead pedal over on the left
and that's where you're supposed to put your left foot to rest it.
Your vehicle may not, so just put it on the left side of the floorboard.
So we're going to move on to adjusting the steering wheel.
Most vehicles have
some kind of adjustment so you can move your steering wheel
at least up and down.
Some have a telescopic adjustment so you can pull
the steering wheel back and forth. But this one doesn't.
This just has the up and down.
So what we're looking for here when
adjusting the steering wheel is a couple of things.
The first is that
you want to be able to easily see your gauges
through your steering wheel. So make sure your steering wheel is adjusted up or
down so you have that clear view.
Also with your steering wheel you want to have at least 10 to 12 inches between the
steering wheel and your breastbone, your sternum.
That's because
there's an airbag in your steering wheel and when that
comes out, it comes out with great force.
If you're too close to your steering
wheel and that airbag comes out, that can really hurt you.
I've got a piece of paper here that's 11 inches on this side,
so i'm going to use that as my gauge. And putting that on the steering wheel,
I still have a few inches between the steering wheel
and my chest.
And while we're talking about the steering wheel let's also talk
about hand placement while you're driving.
It's recommended that you have your hands at the nine and three position.
If you're not familiar with that terminology, just think of an old clock face.
And at nine o'clock and three o'clock is
where you want your hands. All the way at the left, all the way at the right.
There's a few reasons for that. One is that your hands are evenly
balanced that way. You're having equal force pulling down
on the right and down on the left, so it's easier to balance while you're
driving, and keep straight on the road.
If you have your hands at the 10 and 2
position or even higher towards the top of the
middle of the steering wheel,
and that airbag goes off, it's going to
probably hit your arms and throw them back.
Could break some fingers more easily than it could if they're at the nine and
three position.
Nine and three is the way to go.
Also, when you're setting the height of your steering wheel,
make sure that the bottom of the steering wheel isn't too close to your
knees and legs.
You don't want anything to interfere with your hands when you're
trying to make a full turn.
Now let's adjust the back of the seat.
Mine's a little too straight for me so
for comfort i'm going to lean it back a little bit.
You don't want to tilt it back too much.
If you tilt it back too far, then you're
stretching your arms and you don't have full control over your steering wheel.
To know if you have a good angle for your seat back and a good distance from
the steering wheel, you should be able to put your wrists on
top of the steering wheel without stretching.
That means when you take your hands off and put them on the steering wheel,
you've got a relaxed grip, you've got a good bend in your arm,
you've got room to make the turns and maneuvers that you need to make.
Now we're going to adjust the head restraint.
Its purpose is to prevent
whiplash in case you're hit from behind.
When you're hit from behind, your head goes forward
and then it snaps back really quick.
My head restraint right now is pushed all
the way down.
What you want though is for the middle
of the head restraint to be about even with the middle of the back of your head,
If you can achieve that.
Not every head restraint is adjustable
completely for everyone to exactly match that. But get it as close as you can.
So i'm going to raise mine.
That's all the way up for mine
and it comes pretty close to meeting the middle of the back of my head.
If you can't fully achieve that, just pull your head restraint as far up as it'll go.
If you can adjust the angle of your head
restraint, tilt it so it's as close to your head as possible,
while still being comfortable for you.
The less distance your head has to
travel before it comes back and hits the head restraint, the better.
The less damage it might do to you.
After you've made all your adjustments,
put on your seat belt.
Make sure the lap
belt is going across the bones of your pelvic area.
And not higher up across your stomach.
You also want to make sure that your
shoulder belt isn't twisted, and that it's pulled tight across your chest.
And then see how all the changes you made feel,
and make minor adjustments to your seat if you need to.
So thanks for watching, and I hope this helped.
Having your driver's seat
adjusted properly can make you a better driver,
and even save you from possible injury in case of an accident.