While I love cars, I hate shopping for a car. Cars are made for the average male and not the short woman. I’m 4-foot-10 and about 93 lbs. I didn’t reach my full height until I was about 21 and age has taken about an inch away from me.

When I was learning to drive, I was almost up against the steering wheel, keeping my neck as long as possible to see over the dashboard and I had a pillow behind my back so I was farther forward than the seat would actually support. That means my neck wasn’t supported. The neck should be supported by the headrest as illustrated in this photo. Usually, the neck rest hits me at the top of my head if at all, forcing me to either sick back in an awkward position or to sit forward without lumbar support.

My mother was bigger boned and heavier than I as is my sister. I am taller than both and I am a perfectly proportioned size 12 in girls. I don’t need to hem my pants with a size 12. I remember waiting longer than my classmates to meet the minimum height on certain rides at Disneyland.

Most 12-year-olds don’t drive cars although there was that 8-year-old who drove her mother’s car to Target. 

The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration in its 2009 information brochure notes that 87 people have been killed by air bags. “The one fact that is common to all who died is NOT their height, weight, sex or age. Rather it is the fact that they were too close to the air bag when it started to deploy.” While the brochure notes that “front seat adult passengers can sit a safe distance from their air bag” it also advises that “children 12 and under should sit in the back seat.”

You can, as of 19 January 1998, turn off your air bag. Otherwise, ideally, the NHTSA notes, “you should sit with at least 10 inches between the center of your breastbone and the cover of your airbag.”

Women and Height

In the US, obviously someone who shops in the children’s department is shorter than average, but just how short am I compared to other women?

According to MedicineNet.com:

Globally the height of an average woman is 5 feet 3 inches (160 cm). The average height of a woman varies from country to country, ranging from the tallest at 5 feet 7 inches (170 cm) in the Netherlands to the shortest average height of just under 4 feet 9 inches (144.78 cm) in Guatemala. The average woman in the U.S. is 5 feet 3.5 inches (165 cm) tall.

By ethnicity, the average differ as well.

The average height for U.S. women does differ by ethnicity. Non-Hispanic white women are the tallest with an average height of 5 feet 4.3 inches (163.3 cm), while Asian Americans are the shortest with an average height of 5 feet 1.5 inches (156.2 cm).

That means I am taller than the average woman in Guatemala, but shorter than the average Asian American.

LA Auto Show

When I was getting my badge, the woman at the desk confided to me that she and her friend use a booster pillow. I didn’t before, but I bought one after I bruised my tailbone and have continued to use it. I didn’t bring my pillow into the auto show, but there was an awareness of the problem.

In order to see over the steering wheel in the simulation, I had to sit on top of two soft pillows, but I could not lean back into the seat as you can see the two men, doing. I was on the edge of the seat and the simulator leans, meaning that it was tilting me the way the car was leaning, but I could not brace myself, resulting in unnecessary stress on my neck.

 

Life isn’t a simulation so how to the new cars stack up for petite women?

At the press view on 21 November 2024, I tried out a couple of cars, but sometimes a woman spending five minutes in a car seems like too much for male members of the press corps.

KIA

2025 Telluride SX-Prestige X-Line

Distance from top of steering wheel center: 11 inches.

Sightline: Bottom 1/3 of windshield.

Other notes: Easy reach of window controls on left armrest.

2025 Serento X-Line SX-Prestige

Distance from top of steering wheel center: 12 inches.

Sightline: Bottom 1/3 of windshield.

I did feel that there’s some danger in allowing the driver’s seat to come as far as 3 inches away from the dashboard.

2025 Seltos SX Turbo

Distance from top of steering wheel center: 10.5 inches.

I liked the reach of window controls.

2015 Carnival SX Prestige

Distance from top of steering wheel center: 12 inches.

I like that it limits how far forward you can go.

What I didn’t like about the Carnival is that in order to use the controls on the righthand side, I had to reach too far off center. For the most part, the controls for the seat allowed you to come far enough forward. There was enough room for the knees. The sightline is the bottom 1/3 of the windshield.

SUBARU

AWD Impreza

I found the seat to be very low and it can come too far forward.

Solterra Limited EV

Distance from top of steering wheel center: 10 inches

Subaru Ascent

Distance from top of steering wheel center: 12 inches.

I noticed it had an overhead handle which is great if you’re taller, but not particularly helpful for someone who is petite or for kids younger than 12.

Subaru Forester

Distance from top of steering wheel center: 12 inches

Subaru Outback

Distance from top of steering wheel center: 10 inches

overhead handle

Subaru Legacy

Distance from top of steering wheel center: 11 inches

Subaru BRZTS

There’s a design flaw in the Subaru dashboard that comes out in a curve instead of dropping down. That means short drivers will have less room for their knees. I bumped my knees every time I got out so I would not buy a Subaru with this design flaw. Moreover, some of the cars allowed the front seat to come up to 3 inches of the dashboard. I think that’s too close and there should be a limit to how far forward a seat can come.

I think if you have kids who are 12 years old or younger, rather than an overhead handle to help you get in, one of the side works better and is easier to reach.

AEV Prospector XL

My sightline was in the middle 1/3 of the windshield which is great. I forgot to measure the distance from the airbag here. The sideview mirrors are so high they go over my head. The driver’s seat comes too far forward for safety (three inches).

I thought it was awkward to get into for kids and getting in the back seats could be a challenge as well because there is nothing to steady oneself with.

FORD 

Ford Bronco Sport Badlands

Distance from top of steering wheel center: 11 inches.

Sightline: Bottom of the middle 1/3 of the windshield.

JEEP

Distance from top of steering wheel center: 8 inches

Out of nostalgia for my father’s red Jeep I took a ride, but these were awkward to get into front and back and even if you don’t have a petite woman in your posse, your family might have kids aged 12 or younger. The shift stick  is not in a good position for short drivers.

ACURA

Type S

Distance from top of steering wheel center: 10 inches.

Acura ADX ASPE with Advance Package

Distance from top of steering wheel center: 9 inches.

HONDA

I love Honda because Honda has stayed in the Los Angeles South Bay Area and around the parameter of their campus, they planted cherry trees. I love seeing those trees bloom every year. However, there is, like with Subaru, a design flaw in many of its cars.  The brake is in a bad spot in all the cars I tried except for the Honda Civic. I have driven a Honda Civic, ages ago and my mother did own one (although that’s not the one I’ve driven).

Because of how high the brake pedal is and where it is placed and how the steering wheel column is shaped, I hit my knee every time I tried to brake. It was also awkward to get out. In the Toyota Prius I currently drive, if I use my three-inch booster pillow, my knee brushes the column.

The models I sat in:

• 2025 CRV Hybrid
• Honda Odyssey
• Honda Prologue
• Honda Civic

Honda Civic

Distance from top of steering wheel center: 10 inches

TOYOTA

I know I can drive a Toyota Prius, but checked out their other cars.

Toyota Crown Signia

Distance from top of steering wheel center: 8 inches.

While I was there looking at the Toyotas, there was a problem with the automatic rear hatch working that wasn’t fixed easily fixed. So it is probably a good idea to check if the rear hatch is easy to close without the automatic feature in case it breaks.

HYUNDAI

Hyundai Ioniq9

Distance from top of steering wheel center: 10.5

Sightline:  Lower 1/3 of the windshield.

All controls in easy reach on armrest. This also had a problem with the seat coming too far forward and the White press photographer telling me that my spending five minutes in the car was taking up his precious time. “Are you finished measuring every inch of the car? I want to take a photo.” When I got home, I realized that I only spent five minutes in the car.

I still got in the back of the Hyundai Ioniq9 and the guy didn’t say anything to the White people in the passenger seats behind me.  I might have spent more time at Hyundai, but as you can see from the photos, the White male photographer was lingering around that area and there was no Hyundai representative to intercede on my behalf.

Looking at the way the lower part of the dashboard is designed, I don’t think my knee would survive a collision.

CONCLUSIONS

I don’t think that petite women are given enough consideration in the design of cars even now. And apparently, even some media people don’t think a woman measuring things is an important observation. If the seat can get close enough, some designers are not considering where the knees will be and that was the case of Honda and Subaru.

There are some safety concerns. I don’t think there’s a good reason to allow the driver’s seat to come within three inches of the dashboard. Is anyone’s knees that skinny? I don’t think so. The primary danger of an electric driver’s seat is the potential for it to malfunction during driving. This was noted as early as 2003 in a Honda Odyssey Forum. More recently, there was a post in the Peugeot Forum (2020).

Faulty power seat switches may cause sudden shifts in the driving position or unexpected seat movements. In a Kia Forum, someone wrote (4 September 2022), “My driver’s seat moves very slightly forward when braking,” but this was in a car that was 10 years old. In 2009, another person mentioned a problem with a 2005 Tahoe Z71 and “had the seat start this forward trek while I was in the seat.” While all this is worrisome and a bit trivial, it becomes more problematic if the seat can move too far forward for even a 12-year-old to comfortably drive in.  If you can move the seat to three inches away from the dashboard, that’s too close. What if it got stuck there? What if kids playing got stuck there?

The other problem with power seats is maintenance and this is where I think all of the car makers fail for short drivers. There is nothing to protect the rails when the seat is so far forward. How far forward?  Check out these photos.

The rails behind my driver’s seat are protected by a car seat cover.

I think since there is a possibility of failure, before one purchases a car, one should also check how hard it is to manually close the back hatch. I found the Kia back hatches all stiff, but the automatic feature allows one to adjust how far up it goes. I looked at those before I saw the back hatch on one of the Toyota display cars fail so that is an issue that I could include next year.

For reference, I loved my 1991 Toyota Previa and if it didn’t use so much gas, I would have kept it. My husband and I both drive a Toyota Prius currently. My husband is also below average in height, yet there’s no doubt that petite women get the short end of the car configuration and design deal.

The Los Angeles Auto Show, runs until Sunday, 1 December 2024. Friday to Saturday, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the LA Convention Center. For tickets or more information, visit LAAutoShow.com.