BackShield Review: A Straightforward Solution To Uncomfortable Car Seats

BackShield, back support, driver's seat, uncomfortable seats
[Photo: TFLcar]

The BackShield fits easily into the worst OEM car seat ever.

Last year I bought a 2010 Subaru Forester base model with a manual transmission for my daughter. The biggest drawback? The driver’s seat is one of the least supportive, least comfortable car seats I’ve ever experienced. Pressing in the car’s heavy clutch pedal simply pushed me deeper into the nine-year-old seat, so much so that I was forced to use my toes to hold down the clutch. Thirty minutes was about all the driving I could do before my back seized up and put a limp into my step when I exited the car.

I considered swapping out the seat for a stiffer, more supportive and less uncomfortable driver’s seat, despite the cost and despite the fact that the book value of the Forester doesn’t justify it. Then I stumbled upon the BackShield, a back support concocted of nearly indestructible quarter-inch thick ABS plastic, hard rubber cushioning, and dense foam cover. It looked like someone had simply cut out the lumbar/upper back to a racing seat and attached two Velcro straps to it to hold it in place.

BackShield, back support, driver's seat, uncomfortable seats
The BackShield’s backside of thin but stiff ABS plastic. [photo: TFL]

I gave it a shot. BackShield claims that because their product is so stiff and their trademarked Lift Zone (which helps reduce pressure on the lower back, is so aggressive) it may take 2-3 weeks for one’s back muscles and spine to adapt to the new posture. Believe it. Popping the Back Shield into the Sube and taking off on a few errands around town, the back support performed exactly as I’d hoped, providing me with a solid foundation from which to press in the clutch.

A simple solution

After the first several uses, however, my back felt worked over, but in a good way, like after a vigorous massage. Over time, though, my posture adapted and sure enough, this simple solution to the world’s worst car seat worked. Now I use the Back Shield on my office chair. I’ve even taken their suggestion to lie down on it so I can safely flex my spine at the end of the day.

There are a ton of different lumbar support and back support products out there for your car, and I can’t say whether the BackShield is better than all of them or not. I just know that for $89.95, it served as a cheap solution to a poorly designed, uncomfortable car seat with no back support. Still on the fence? Back Shield’s 60-day money back guarantee gives you plenty of time to use the product and make an informed decision on whether it works for you as well as it works for me.