The daily grind of entitled wankers

My own car has an sliding seatbelt anchor at the side

So does mine, and DHs, but they don't go low enough.

“My point was that cars are designed for the averagely heighted (or even tall?) man.”

I know, I just thought it was funny

But I was adding that even if you’re tall for a woman, things still aren’t in the right place.

My husband refused to believe that I
Couldn’t find a comfortable driving position in his Ford Focus. I wouldn’t drive it as never felt safe.
I have a fiesta which is fine but I have to have the seat right forward to reach the pedals.
I also drive my husbands Audi occasionally but the seatbelt always digs in to my neck. I might point him in the direction of this thread but he probably wouldn’t bother to read it.

My own car has an sliding seatbelt anchor at the side, so it's only the boob thing bothering me. But when I sit in the back of almost every other car, the damn things cut across my neck, too. I spend the entire drive pulling the seatbelt away, acutely aware that whether I do that or not, in an accident I'm screwed either way.

Haha sorry tabulahrasa, nothing wrong with being a tall woman! My point was that cars are designed for the averagely heighted (or even tall?) man. I'd never even considered it before because it seems to insane to me that vehicles that can and do regularly cause death and are not even designed for 51% of the population. I can't imagine being 5 foot and having to drive with all this in mind. They really need to make cars safe and comfortable for everyone, including seatbelts that acknowledge that women have boobs.

There's definitely a gap in the market for boob comfortable seat belts.

“Of course a big bloke with massive feet would have no such problem.”

my feet fit on both...

Rofl

Seatbelts though, i worked out while still learning to drive that they’re not designed for women... I asked my instructor what was wrong with my seatbelt and he looked confused and I realised it wasn’t designed to sit properly with breasts...

Also slightly off topic but I had to leave my last gym because all of the machinery was designed for what seemed like giant 6'5 men. It was uncomfortable to use, my feet sometimes didn't reach the floor or pedals and the parts were often too heavy to change the settings on them. I asked one of the instructors and they pretty much acknowledged it. The gym then scrapped the yoga studio and made an even bigger space for all of the blokes to grunt loudly and drop their weights on the floor whilst wearing those ridiculous vests.

This thread has really opened my mind about how things are built for men and how women are just expected to adapt and laughed at if they are unable to do so.

I'm average height and have an average shoe size and I had a look today at my feet in the car (whilst parked!) to see if I was able to place them on the floor as well as the pedal at the same time. I noticed I my foot hovers above the clutch pedal because the angle is more severe making it painful for my foot to be on both the pedal and the floor at the same time. Of course a big bloke with massive feet would have no such problem. I've also ALWAYS found seatbelts uncomfortable and could not figure out why. Whatever way I wear them they seem to dig in.

I really want to read Caroline's book now about all of these statistics. It's fascinating and terrifying to see misogyny and patriarchy so clear with so much data and evidence.

Surely there is a gap in the market for cars which are made to women's proportions?

I'm tall, but dh is 7" taller. Yet when we are sitting down he is only about 4" taller than me. His legs are definitely longer in proportion to his body. I can get away with not adjusting the height of the driver's seat when we share a car, but I certainly have to bring it forward a long way!

I now feel like a giant with clown feet on this thread, rofl

I have size 7 or 8 feet depending on style.

More I was wondering whether they actually sit differently, because I’ve got in cars driven by men shorter than me and still had to pull the seat forward to reach the pedals properly.

I don’t sit particularly far forward, there’s plenty of room between me and steering wheels, but I can’t drive as far back as men put it.

I’m kind of wondering if it’s pelvis shape? Or something obscure like that that means even if car designers adjust for height...it’s still not right for women.

With small feet, you can put a wide board under the mat, to raise the level of the floor a few inches for comfort. Simple but effective.

I have wondered about deactivating airbag as well but can you do that with driver.

As it is, I've never driven a car where seatbelt wasn't in wildly the wrong place no matter what i did to adjust it

We had askoda octavia it was v comfyi felt like it fitted me iyswim

We have a mini cooper and it's ok but bizarrely feels like xeat should just come up short inch to make me right place in windscreen

Also just realized writ8ng that is why i always have upright driving position, dh has leaning back. He's nearly a foot taller than me so suppose trying to get lower!

I agree about Fords. I have to have my seat almost as far forward as it can go and I’m 5’5”.

Which is course is at least average for a woman but very small for a man. It’s almost as if the car is designed for men.

but I have to anyway to stop the lip of the seat cutting off bloodflow to my knees

Argh yes - I used to use one of those wedge cushions in an old car, because you couldn't pump the seat up much, and yes, the seat was too deep so I couldn't bend my leg properly, and it cut off the blood, so the wedge just pushed me forward that little bit to make it slightly more comfortable.

The truck actually lets me tilt the seat forward a bit, which cures that issue.

Oh god the foot hover. I cannot drive for longer than 40 minutes doing the foot hover.

I didn't mind BMW 1 and 3 series, but I had to drop the seat down (but I have to anyway to stop the lip of the seat cutting off bloodflow to my knees).

So basically I'm flat cap and fingers if I'm driving.

I don't like doing it after the event but I feel that having cars explained to me for 45 minutes was not right

My sister's instructor used to spend half the lesson just talking to her too. Every time. Such a waste of money.

The guy I picked for my lessons just had me get in, and after pointing out each pedal, just had me start driving and see how it went! I think that something in the middle of the two would be better, although as a refresher, my guy would have been fine.

I had fun and games recently - my husband was a bit cynical that the reason I drive the car I drive is because it has a driving position that mostly works for me. So we went and sat in a lot of cars.

I'm 5ft1, with small feet (3) and what feels like short legs.

I sat in a 3 door Astra - couldn't move the seat far enough forwards on the rails to allow me to depress the clutch apart from on tip toe. Not safe or sensible for ongoing vehicle life.
Vauxhall Moka - couldn't get the hip bone length of the seat position to be in a way that didn't push against the back of my knees and cause numbness.
Most cars I tried (Ford etc) I couldn't reach the handbrake without having to scoot my shoulder around the seat.

So I'm back in a Skoda Octavia.

I'm 5'. I drive a pickup truck. We swapped for an automatic because I was having real trouble with the old pickup's clutch - because my feet are only a size 3, so I can't rest my heel on the floor, my foot is always hovering, so that, in combination with the heavier clutch was just ruining my knee. No problem with the automatic.

I've driven loads of different cars. BMWs are particularly bad for shorties in my opinion, but everything else has been OK.

I do have to sit a bit close, so I recline my seat a bit in the hopes of deflecting - I know it's dangerous, I know that if there's a head on and the airbag goes off, I'm likely to get a broken nose (at best, probably more damage than that), but I have to be able to depress the pedals (not a clutch any more - I can't recommend automatics enough!), and until car manufacturers make cars for shorter women, I don't have much choice.

Hmm. I actually think some people do have their seat too close to the steering wheel, but more for psychological security than comfort.

I'm a mere 5'2 and so long as I raise the height of the seat I'm able position the chair far enough back from the steering wheel to have plenty of clearance, yet still reach the pedals and hold the steering wheel with relaxed arms.

Statistically it is unlikely that the drivers I see hugging their steering wheels for dear life are all much shorter than me.

Sometimes what is comfortable is what you are used to and it doesn't always mean there isn't a better way.