I spent about 20 hours in the front passenger seat over two days. My left hip is sore. I spent 15 hours in the driver side before that with no issues. I’m not tall but I guess rolling my left femur that slight bit was not the right thing to do. Maybe it’s time for new cushions.

Sixto
07 E350 5.4 189K miles

 

The PS captain's chair in my van is reversed since it's mainly used for solo camping.

Five years ago I tossed the two leather chairs that were mounted midway in the van. I'm really kicking myself now for not saving the upholstery and bottom cushions from those since they were in excellent shape.

I decided to try and redo just the bottom of these old seats and plan to use heavy fabric that I salvaged from a broken recliner.

Your post makes me think that I should add a little extra cushion to the old saggy ones. I have some 1" latex foam leftover from a mattress topper that should soften things up a bit.

 

Cushioning helps but I think it’s the unusual passenger position caused by the offset doghouse that causes issues. In my case there was a passenger behind the front seat so I couldn’t slide it back further.

Sixto
07 E350 5.4 189K miles

 

The right side seat in these E-Series vans does place a passenger in an awkward position especially if you've over 5'4" or your feet can touch the floor. Cushions etc cannot correct that, not sure what's to be done.

My girlfriend rides there quite often, I don't see her straining or being uncomfortable though. Sometimes she'll sit with legs folded under her as the seat width is sufficient to allow that. As long as her seat belt is properly fitted I'm okay with that.

I do wonder if that seat could be mounted behind the stock location and maybe ease this? This isn't the first we've heard the complaint---it can't be easy to deal with I'm sure. (I NEVER ride in that seat so can't really know.)

 

The 68-74 put the seat back so far it was in the side cargo door area, had to omit the passenger seat in my 73 as the wheelchair lift would not allow mounting it, added a bed in the back so there was no passengers, nowhere to sit, never thought about that until I bought that van, didn't notice how far back it sits, none of the other Econolines sit that far back.

 

^^^IMHO since passengers behind the front seats in most privately owned E-Series tend to not be that frequently used I'd be okay with moving a seat backwards if it made the front passenger more comfortable. I do agree the offset doghouse is the biggest problem but there's no practical way to correct that.

The seat's padding can be renewed or modified a bit but that doesn't address the lack of foot and leg room up front on the right side.