Have you ever taken a long road trip, either as a driver or a passenger? If so, you don’t need us telling you how uncomfortable sitting in one place for hours on end can be. Your butt gets sore, your shoulders tense up, and your back aches. Getting an ergonomically-designed car seat cushion is a great investment. It will make any long drives significantly more comfortable and enjoyable.
Car seat cushions are made from all kinds of materials. From memory foam to polyester, there’s one for every wallet and taste. There are even orthopedic cushions, designed to fix your posture. Along with a car cooler, they’re your best companion on long drives.
In this article, we bring you ten reviews of the best car seat cushions on the market today. Then, we put together a thorough buying guide to make your search for the cushion of your dreams less overwhelming. Lastly, you’ll find a list of frequently asked questions about how to care and use these pillows properly.
The Everlasting Comfort cushion takes the cake as the best car seat cushion out there. It’s affordable, offers great support, and is designed to ease lower back and tailbone pain. The overwhelmingly positive customer reviews are on to something.
This cushion is made from completely memory foam, meaning it has no cheap fillings. Over time, the Everlasting Comfort pillow adapts to your body’s shape. This makes it one of the most comfortable options for long drives.
The U-shape of the cushion makes it perfect to ease localized pain. It offers extra support to the tailbone, lower back, hips, and lumbar areas. These are the parts most affected by sitting down for long periods.
Another great thing about this cushion is its soft exterior. It feels almost velvet-like to the touch and it’s easy on the skin. On the bottom, the cushion has a non-slip rubber gel lining, which keeps the pillow in place.
Lastly, it can be used for any car seat or, alternatively, on an office chair. If you work long hours at a desk, this will be your best workday companion.
Main Features:
100% pure quality memory foam
Non-slip bottom
The orthopedic design suited to ease localized pain
Another awesome car seat pillow is the Aylio Orthopedic one. As the name suggests, it offers great support to the lower back and tailbone. Plus, it’s cost-effective, designed well and has tons of positive customer reviews to support it!
The Aylio cushion is shaped like a U. This makes it perfect to offer localized support to the lumbar area, buttocks, and tailbone. On top of all that, with a little bit of effort on your part, it will help you realign your spine and fix your posture.
The cushion has a velvet cover, which is soft to the touch. You can machine wash it without making it any less soft. The base has an anti-slip lining to stop it from sliding off your seat.
If there’s one downside to this pillow is that it warms up when you use it for extended periods. The foam inside the pillow heats up, which can be a good thing for some but a bad thing for others. It’s up to you whether this is a deal-breaker.
If you’re looking to spend a little more on a quality cushion for your car, this is the pick for you. It costs almost $70 but it’s worth every penny. It realigns your spine, corrects your posture, distributes your weight, and can easily be carried around.
Looking at the XTreme Comforts cushion for cars, you see a black cover. It has a zipper so you can remove it and put it in the washing machine. Plus, since it’s a mesh cover, it lets the air circulate to keep your pillow from smelling, even after many months of use.
While this pillow doesn’t have memory foam, it does have super thick padding. It holds up well even after being used for a long time. Most importantly, it offers great support to the hip bones, tailbone, and lumbar area.
The cheapest orthopedic cushion for cars you’ll ever find is this one. It has urethane foam (not memory foam), but it does offer great support and holds up very well!
This FORTEM piece is shaped like a U to deliver maximum support and comfort. It adjusts to your body and embraces it. That’s what makes this such a comfortable pillow, even though it doesn’t have memory foam.
The soft velvety cover can be removed, as there is a zipper running along the side. The bottom is lined with anti-slip gel and there’s a carrying handle on the side, making it easy to transport.
Because of its low weight, compact design, and medium size, you can take it with you to the office as well. It will fit perfectly on a desk chair.
Although this piece was made to be used in an office, it works perfectly as a car seat cushion. Plus, it’s often on sale, which means that if you can get it discounted, you’ll end up with a premium pillow for a low price.
The cushion looks more like a wedge than the previous items we’ve reviewed. But this design has its upsides, too. It promotes good posture by forcing you to keep your back straight. On top of that, it offers hip support and eases pressure from the sciatic nerve.
You can also use this cushion at work if you tend to sit at your desk for long periods. Alternatively, you could use it in your car to give you a height boost and help you see better when driving.
We love the therapy-grade memory foam. You can tell a lot of research went into making this pillow, that’s why it has so many upsides and eases all kinds of pain so well!
Main Features:
Made from 100% therapy-grade memory foam
Boosts height as well as aligns posture
Offers extra support to the tailbone
The non-slip bottom holds the cushion in place
Cons:
May be too hard for petite people
6. 5 Stars United Seat Cushion for Cars and Trucks
The next item on our list is another memory foam pillow. It has a similar shape to other products we’ve reviewed so far but it’s worth considering buying, as it does its job well and is relatively inexpensive.
It evenly distributes your weight through the cushion. Thus, it takes off pressure from the spinal discs. This will better your posture and make sitting for long periods easier on your back and shoulders.
The breathable black mesh cover is a big plus. It prevents foul odors from developing from inside the filling and prolongs the cushion’s life.
Its ergonomic design works with all cars, most trucks, and all office chairs. Since it’s so compact and lightweight, you can easily take it with you from the car to the house to the office.
Lastly, since the pillow is firm, it can not only give you a height boost but also ease sciatica and hip pain. We must also mention that it has a weight limit of 220 pounds and works best for people over 150 pounds.
Main Features:
100% pure memory foam
Ergonomic and compact design make it travel-friendly
Can be used on a variety of sitting areas
The cushion is on the firm side, correcting posture
Cons:
Should be used by those between 150 and 220 pounds
The futuristic-looking VivaLife Gel Cushion is innovative and effective at preventing tailbone pain especially. You can get it for relatively cheap (under $35) and give your car seat or office chair a whole new life.
This cushion isn’t like others we’ve reviewed so far. It has memory foam coated in cooling gel technology. This keeps your bum from heating up and makes the thick layer of foam feel less firm to the touch. It’s the memory foam pillow for people who don’t like memory foam pillows.
Its wedge design gives you a minor height boost. If you’re short and would like a slightly better look of the road, this is a great piece for you. But most importantly, the wedge cut-off design will take the pressure from your coccyx and sacrum bones. This will immediately ease the pain you get from sitting for hours on end every day.
Do keep in mind that the gel inside can freeze when exposed to low temperatures. It won’t ruin the cushion forever, but it will make it uncomfortable for a while. Just keep it indoors when you’re not using it in the car and you should be fine.
Main Features:
Memory foam and gel cooling technology make it a softer pillow
A much thinner car seat cushion, the Domic Pad can be great for those looking for a softer seat than the one their car offers. It won’t give you a whole lot of support, but it is an item that makes sitting for long periods more comfortable.
For starters, you can’t get more discreet than this pillow. It’s only 1.18-inches thick, meaning it won’t add any significant height to whoever is sitting on it. This is good for people who are already tall and don’t want their height getting in the way of their driving.
This cushion has memory foam, which makes it firm but supporting. Sitting on it doesn’t feel like resting on a cloud, but it makes driving for several hours easier on your back and tailbone.
You can also take it indoors to your office if you’d like. Its small and compact design makes it the perfect desk companion. You could even take it on a trip, for instance, on a long plane ride, since it’s easy to pack.
We highly recommend the ComfiLife Orthopedic cushion, even though it shows up as number nine on our list. It’s especially good for sciatica pain.
This cushion used memory foam and cooling gel to offer you maximum support. The foam makes it a firm cushion but the gel makes the surface softer and more comfortable.
It’s wrapped in a velour cover that has a zipper, making it detachable. When it gets dirty, you can just take it off and put it in the washing machine. The velour cover is soft to the touch, but it can make the pillow warm after being used for long periods.
Main Features:
The cooling gel technology makes it softer and more comfortable
Its velour cover can be removed and machine washed
Offers maximum support for sciatica pain
Cons:
May flatten out after a while if used by heavier-set people
The last item on our list brings an interesting, natural ingredient to the mixture: bamboo charcoal. It mixes memory foam with this natural ingredient to up comfort and gets rid of the downsides of hard foam.
The memory foam in the filling is crucial. It’s supposed to give the cushion shape and offer more support to your body while sitting. Some people don’t like this material because it’s too hard. That’s why this piece mixes it with bamboo charcoal. It makes it softer to the touch while still maintaining its shape.
Moreover, the bamboo charcoal filling promotes air circulation. This prevents the cushion from heating up while you’re sitting on it. Not to mention it avoids foul odor buildup.
All this doesn’t stop it from giving great support. You can sit on it for hours on end and not feel pain on your lower back or tailbone. Hurrah for a healthy posture!
Main Features:
Made with bamboo charcoal mixed with memory foam
Supports the lower back and tailbone areas
Doesn’t heat up when in use
Feels soft to the touch but retains its shape
Cons:
It may not last if used by a heavy-set person
Why Should I Buy a Car Seat Cushion?
The most obvious reason to buy a car seat cushion is to feel more comfortable while driving. Across the country, Americans spent a total of 84 billion hours driving in 2015, according to the Department of Transportation. That’s a lot of time sitting down every day! And we all know how uncomfortable that can be.
With a cushion for your car seat, that task becomes much easier. The design of these cushions helps distribute the weight of your body evenly. That means there’s less pressure put on one of your hip bones and that your spine isn’t all wonky.
Cushion vs. Car Seat
Ideally, all car seats would have an orthopedic design. They’d take the pressure off our joints and nerves and make us feel comfortable. But the reality is they don’t. A normal car seat is hard and doesn’t mold to your body. This isn’t a huge problem when you don’t drive long distances and don’t have any back problems. But when you do, it’s a whole other story.
This is where a cushion for the car seat comes in. It gives you support and makes sitting still for hours on end much more bearable. Plus, since they’re available in all sorts of designs and at a wide variety of prices, it’s a brilliant investment.
What Are Car Seat Cushions Made Of?
A cushion for your car seat can be made from a variety of materials. Usually what determines which material is used is price. Cheaper cushions use less durable and less comfortable materials, while higher-end cushions use premium materials.
Memory Foam
This is the holy grail of comfort. This type of foam is one of the most expensive materials out there but for good reason. These cushions mold themselves to your body and hug your figure. The best thing about this is that you’re getting customized support. Your cushion will offer more support on the areas you’re needing it the most.
Shredded Foam
While memory foam is a solid block, shredded foam is lumpy. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. For once, it’s much softer, which makes it ideal for petite people, who may feel memory foam cushions are too hard. It’s also easier to keep these pillows good as new, as your weight won’t leave an impression on the foam. Just remember to fluff it and move around the shredded clumps once in a while for it to retain its shape.
Bamboo Charcoal
If you’re after a more natural material, bamboo charcoal is best for you. It’s much more expensive and harder to find, but some models use this kind of filling to follow a more environmentally friendly philosophy. It’s soft, breathable, and super comfortable. Besides price and availability, there’s nothing wrong with it.
Mesh Covers
It’s also important to find a cover that lets air in and out of the filling. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a hot pillow. If that’s not a deal-breaker for you, velvet covers are just fine! But if you want to keep your pillow fresh, look for mesh covers.
What’s the Best Car Seat Cushion?: Buying Guide
Don’t get lost in the immense world of car seat cushions. Look for these specs to find the best pillow for your needs.
Materials
Take a look at the materials we’ve mentioned, from memory foam to charred bamboo, and decide which is best for your needs. If you have severe back problems, we recommend getting a therapy-grade memory foam cushion. If you’re just looking for comfort, try different pillows and see what kind of filling you like best.
Support
A car seat cushion that doesn’t offer great support is useless. You want one that at least takes the pressure off your tailbone and lumbar area. If you have sciatica pain, look for pillows made specifically for that. Another aspect to consider is hip support.
Breathability
The best car seat cushion has to be made with breathable materials. It needs to let the filling breathe. That’s the first step toward ensuring the cushion maintains its shape for a long time. Not to mention that it’s the only thing preventing the filling from heating up too much. For some, that’s a plus (having a warm tush can be comfortable in the winter), but for others, it’s a deal-breaker.
Size
Where would you like to use your cushion? Most pieces are just the right size to be used in most trucks and cars. But if your vehicle has a long bench-like seat, these pillows are probably not for you.
Another thing to consider is whether they’ll fit on your desk chair. That is if you want to take it with you to work.
Durability
Some pillows just live longer than others. Memory foam cushions, for instance, can hold their shape for years at a time. But that’s only if you don’t use them for multiple hours every single day. After all, the area where your body weight is resting becomes thinner and offers less support with time.
The key is to look for customer reviews mentioning how long their cushions lasted them. Getting a piece from a trusted seller or brand is also a good way of ensuring your cushion will live a long and happy life.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are car seat pillows good for sciatica?
They can be, yes. Pick one that specifically eases sciatica pain. The ones that have therapy-grade memory foam are the best for this purpose.
Does a seat cushion improve posture?
Yes, it does—but only if you remind yourself to keep good posture. These cushions will make it easier for you to sit up straight and feel comfortable. But if you’re slouching the whole time you’re sitting, no cushion can do magic. You have to remind yourself to sit up and keep good posture as well.
Can I use a car seat cushion in a truck?
As long as the truck doesn’t have a long bench-style seating, you can.
Can you wash car seat cushions?
You can’t wash the filling, but you can wash the cover. If your cushion comes with a removable cover, by all means, put it in the washing machine on a gentle, cold-water cycle.
Can you dry car seat cushions?
Never put your car seat cushion in the dryer. If it gets wet, leave it to air-dry overnight in a warm, dry place. Putting the cushion in a dryer would ruin the filling.
How to wash a car seat cushion?
Most cushions have a detachable cover that can go in the washing machine. If that’s the case for your pillow, remove the cover and wash it according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
How to install car seat cushions?
There’s no complicated installation. All you have to do is place the cushion on the car seat, aligned with where you’ll sit, and that’s that.
Are car seat cushions safe?
Yes, they are! They don’t interfere with driving at all, so you don’t need to worry about anything.
What’s the weight limit of a seat cushion?
Manufacturers don’t typically issue weight limits, so you’ll have to go off of customer reviews. Typically, shredded foam and bamboo charcoal aren’t as good for heavier people. Go for memory foam, which is sturdier and resists better to pressure.
Do these cushions smell after use?
The best way to prevent these car cushions from developing an odor is to let them air out after each use. For instance, bring it home from your car and leave it out in the open overnight. Getting a mesh cover instead of a velvet cover also helps keep foul odors at bay.
What’s the best cushion for coccyx pain?
We recommend getting the Aylio Orthopedic Car Seat Cushion. It’s designed for coccyx (or tailbone) pain and works wonders.
What is the best cushion for sciatica problems?
The ComfiLife Premium Comfort cushion is great for sciatica problems.
Do seat cushions heat up during use?
Memory foam cushions have a reputation for heating up during use. That’s how they’re able to mold to your body’s shape. It shouldn’t be a drastic increase in temperature, though.
