Slim seats up front mean legroom in back

DETROIT -- Changes are in store for the back seat. Some of them are prompted by environmental concerns, some by new regulations and some, if designers get their way, just to improve the ride for back-seat passengers.Johnson Controls Inc.'s concept slim seat would use existing materials but in a way that would expose a flexible plastic lumbar support within a front bucket seat and free nearly 2 inches of legroom behind it."We're using existing materials and manufacturing, but we recombine them in a new way," said David Kingston, executive director of complete-seat product and business development at Johnson Control's automotive unit in Plymouth, Mich.The slim seat would remove unneeded polyurethane foam padding at the seat's back to create a space there for a rear-seat passenger's knees. Thin polyurethane foam technology would ensure a comfortable ride for anyone sitting on the new seat, Kingston said during an interview at the Detroit auto show. The concept's profile followed trends in industrial design for structures and shapes seen on home furniture, office chairs and other popular products, he said."It has a real design aesthetic," Kingston said.While the slim seat is a concept for now - with an earliest possible date to reach the market in 2010 - other new seating products already are making an appearance.Johnson Controls has developed a new seat cushion that uses a 5 percent soy resin blend. The soy-based pad is slated for several 2008-model cars that will go on sale later this year.The auto supplier molds more than 100 million pounds of urethane foam annually for its seats, creating the potential for it to use several million pounds of soy-based resin each year, said Charlie Baker, group vice president of engineering worldwide.Johnson Controls also is rolling out new headrests in advance of a U.S. safety requirement created to help prevent whiplash from rear-end collisions.The regulation goes into effect in September 2008 and is intended to force automakers to use headrests that keep a passenger's neck in proper alignment even during a crash.A typical headrest - with a plastic molded interior structure and urethane foam padding - would have to be larger and tilted forward to meet the requirement, said Christopher Parker, product manager for complete seats.Johnson Controls also has created a system, called riACT, with a spring mechanism housed in an injection-molded back plate to allow the headrest to move forward during a crash. The cushion would not have to sit as far forward during normal driving, making the seat more comfortable overall, Parker said.He said one European carmaker is set to put the headrest on the market this year. You may e-mail Rhoda Miel at rmiel@crain.com

Slim seats up front mean legroom in back

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