Hello, this is my first post but I have been lurking around here for a little while and am hoping to get a little help from the forum. I recently purchased an '08 Limited V6 4wd 4Runner and absolutely love the truck except for one thing: the lack of headroom. I am 6' with a 33" inseam and my hair sometimes brushes the ceiling even though I have the seat in the lowest position.

In searching this site and others I have seen this issue brought up and some ideas tossed out but none that seemed to get resolved. Has anyone lowered or changed their seats to successfully give them more headroom? I know I should have taken this more seriously before purchasing but I got caught up in all of the things that are so great about this car.

Besides this one issue this probably my perfect vehicle!

Thanks in advance for the help.
Byron

 

Boy that is a tough one, and I feel your pain as I am 6'3" and cannot consider a 4th gen with a sunroof. I think the cheapest solution you are stuck with is a reupholstry job where they remove the leather and redo the foam to give you an extra inch or so. Other than that you are looking at a seat removal and fabricating some replacement connecting hardware keeping safety in mind with a solid connection. Good luck & welcome.

 

Thanks 4runner4Christ for the reply. I am investigating removing the seat cushion and am going to try to meet an ulpholsterer tomorrow. In case anyone else is interested I will report back my findings and results.

I would still be interested if anyone else has had success with this or any other methods to give themselves some more headroom in their 4th Gen runners.

Byron

 

I'm almost 6'6" and have 180,000 on my 03 with a sunroof. I have the seat all the way down, and reclined a bit. The steering wheel is out to it's fullest extension, and I'm comfortable.
I used to wear a ball cap alot, but not with the 4 runner.
Seriously, I just got used to it. I do keep the inside sliding cover for the sunroof open to my hair does not hit it.
I guess I've just been able to get used to having the seat reclined.
The biggest problem with that is making right turns and trying to see around the door frame to see if anyone's coming from the left.
Another benefit is having the seat lowered to the floor (front & rear) It does not have any movement..
Just my $.02.
Jeff

 

Ok, here is what I ended up doing...I went back to the dealer, pleaded my case and begged them to unwind the deal. They agreed as long as I purchased another vehicle (with less of a discount but still with incentives). Like I said in my earlier post I loved everything else about the 4runner so when I saw an '08 sr5 sport w/o sunroof and with x-reas and the jbl package I jumped on it. I am giving up a little luxury but the extra headroom is amazing. I figure I can add leather for $1000-1500 and have a very similar vehicle.

I suggest anyone considering a 4runner be very careful about the headroom. Learn from my mistake!

Byron

 

Wow, that was pretty cool that they worked with you on that.

 

Maybe it's that I have the 03 with the manual seat vs. the electric. My seat goes so low it is not a problem with the headroom. Like I said I'm over 6'5" and most of my heighth is from the waist up. (only have 34" inseam.)
I'm a little surprised you found it so uncomfortable. I guess the elec seats don't go as low...

 

wow. thats truly amazing. you rarely hear about that happening, most of the time they dont want to consider that after you drive off.. buy as many cars as you can from them in the future, and refer all of your friends, we need more of that in the new car dealer industry. i tried to return an 06 tacoma that we were mislead on to a dealer here in california. since then the 2 other toyotas that i have bought, have been from a dealer out of state.