Herman Miller Chairs question/statement for the rest of you.
The Herman Miller Areon chairs are one of the most popular chairs to have in offices these days, I'll admit that they're comfortable and I sort of like them, with an exception.
Since I've first started using them years ago at Shell, I found that occasionally the lock that controls leaning back or sitting up gives way with a loud clack and dumps you backwards. This problem continued at Conoco, then continued here. As a matter of fact some people in my shop occasionally refer to these chairs as "Ejection seats" and several of my coworkers have wound up falling over backwards just by sitting down in them. When you sit down the latch gives way, you fall with all your weight backwards, causing a reflex of putting down your feet, lowering the weight on front, causing the hydralics/tension to kick the wheels forward concluding the ass over tea kettle manuver. (I've had it happen enough I know to lift my feet off the ground which saves me from the tumble)
I've done a Google search for Herman Miller fall, unsafe, ejection, and a couple of other things, but all I find is marketing and praise. Anybody else have this problem or know where to find horror stories? One of the guys who had it happen here actually hit his head in the tumble, but not to badly.
An update, I found this. I've had the circulation issue as well, but only after extremely long periods in the chair (such as at Shell or Conoco), I figured some of that was because the size "B" chair was pretty much universal and I was in the overlap area according to the charts. With the amount of time I used them I probably should have had a C. As for the other issues on the page, the older models lumbar tended to come apart, but I haven't had those other issues.