How careful are you when it comes to adjusting your car seat? It seems that many people don’t give it a second thought and this is having a huge cost on worker productivity.

Research by Volvo Cars in the UK says that 35% of some 22 million drivers who commute or drive for work admit to have taken a day off in the last 12 months because of back pain brought on by a poor driving position. Volvo says that in financial terms this cost the UK economy a staggering £8.8bn a year in lost productivity.

The Volvo research found 12% of respondents had taken up to two days off work for back pain from poor quality car seats, while some 13% had up to four days sick leave for the same reason. The issue is also placing a big strain on health services. 

Kristian Elvefors, Volvo Car UK’s managing director, said, “Back pain from poor quality car seats costs the economy billions in lost productivity, but also adds pressure on fleet providers to ensure their cars are comfortable for all drivers. Volvo is committed to ensuring that all of its customers, regardless of shape or size, find the seats in their car incredibly comfortable and pain-free.”

Tommy Apell, who work on seat comfort at  Volvo commented, “At Volvo, we specifically opt to use softer foam compounds for our seats to ensure the fit is comfortable across all body shapes and sizes. We also specially tune our seat springs for improved comfort, with the ergonomics team working alongside designers to ensure things like seat stitching don’t create pressure points for drivers and passengers. Our lengthy development and testing programme means new seats take up to five years to move from concept to finished product.”