Interiors, Cabins, and Cockpits

Seats and seating

Latest Stories

News
Energy

2026 Escalade IQL Is Cadillac’s Biggest, Roomiest EV Yet

Cadillac today unveiled the 2026 Escalade IQL electric vehicle, which maintains the Escalade IQ’s class-leading range but adds additional passenger and cargo space.

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Road Ready
Power

2024 Lincoln Nautilus: The Brand’s First Global SUV

While there is a tendency for new vehicles to have a focus on ride, handling, performance and other dynamic elements, the model year 2024 Lincoln Nautilus team added another element to...

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News
Materials

Magna Introduces 100% Melt-Recyclable Foam for Seating

Magna last week announced the development of EcoSphere, which it calls an industry-first product that will prevent one category of material — seat foam padding and trim covers —...

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Road Ready
Power

Cadillac Counts on 2025 Escalade IQ for EV Sizzle

General Motors said it’s all-in on transitioning its entire passenger-vehicle lineup to EVs and there may be no more critical litmus test of the strategy than the reception for the...

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Road Ready
Power

VW Introduces Singular ID.Buzz in Three-Row Layout

As automakers keep rolling out new EV models, a kind of sameness has crept into the proceedings. Put a four-door sedan or crossover on a skateboard platform with a 90-kWh-or-so battery, a...

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News
AR/AI

Honda Expands Its Virtual Development

Honda’s 2024 Prologue is the automaker’s first battery-electric SUV and its first vehicle of any kind designed primarily through virtual reality (VR). Honda has been building its VR resources...

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Road Ready
Transportation

Toyota Stretches SUV Line-Up with World Debut of Grand Highlander

The new Grand Highlander is a three-row midsize SUV, just like Highlander. So it’s not surprising that the Toyota siblings share two powertrains.

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News
Power

Hyundai Bears down on EV Charging, Sustainability

Inoperative public charging stations are a major irritant to both EV owners and to Hyundai Motor North America, asserts Olabisi Boyle, the company’s VP of product planning and mobility...

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News
Green Design & Manufacturing

Recaro Pioneers Seating Shells Made with CF Recyclate

The green flag is about to drop on an auto-racing first: a seat shell infused with recycled carbon fiber.

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Articles
Unmanned Systems

Inner Visions

Evolving market realities have OEMs and automated-driving developers adjusting once-aggressive timelines for deploying high-level driving automation. But new materials and safety technology for vehicle interiors continue to...

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News
Power

BMW Previews an HMI Future Without Dashboard Screens

The BMW i Vision Dee is an electric tease, dialed up to Las Vegas wattage for a provocative unveiling at CES 2023: A novel digital grille, wrapped with Kindle-style “E-ink” material,...

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Articles
Materials

Cadillac's Future-Tech Flagship

Restoring the Cadillac brand to its golden-age pinnacle, when it stood equal among Europe’s ultra-luxury greats, has long been an intermittent dream within GM. The grandiose ‘Sixteen’ concept in 2003...

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Briefs
Test & Measurement

Laboratory Test Requirements for Marine Shock Isolation Seats

This research provides preliminary guidance for laboratory testing of marine shock isolation seats.

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News
Connectivity

GM Readies Comprehensive New Vehicle-Software Platform

General Motors announced this week that it has developed a new “end-to-end” software platform designed to use over-the-air (OTA) updating capabilities to “connect customers’...

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Road Ready
Power

Toyota Muscles-Up 4-Cylinder for Revised 2022 GR 86 Coupe

The vision of two or more automakers cost-sharing development for a vehicle isn’t a new one. It’s been particularly useful in recent years, however, for manufacturers that...

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Road Ready
Lighting

2022 Jeep Compass Gets Class-Leading Safety Upgrades

An all-new interior and a significant increase in onboard safety systems comprise the major design and engineering changes made to the Jeep Compass for MY2022. The compact SUV now offers...

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What We’re Driving
Manned Systems

When a Van Beats a Pickup

As a utilitarian tool, the 2021 Great American Pickup truck has some fundamental flaws. Its open bed jeopardizes any cargo that’s valuable (exposing your payload to the world) or not waterproof. Worse, however,...

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Technology Report
Manufacturing & Prototyping

New Magna Seat Puts Connectivity in the Second Row

New automated seating system improves passenger ingress and egress.

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News
Imaging

What We’re Driving: 2020 Nissan Sentra 2.0 SR CVT

Easily mistaken for its Altima big brother at first glance, the 2020 Nissan Sentra finally gets the all-new platform, exterior style and interior upgrades that this thrifty compact has...

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What We’re Driving
Power

What We’re Driving: 2020 Genesis G90 Ultimate

“That car’s got stature!” exclaimed a neighbor of mine, as I was parking the G90. “Nice to see somebody still making big sedans. So, Genesis – that’s Hyundai, right?” Yes. The...

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News
Unmanned Systems

What We’re Driving: 2020 Nissan Versa SR

The 2020 Nissan Sentra’s most important asset isn’t as obvious as its all-new sheetmetal, although nobody could deny the sharky new body is an immense upgrade over the dowdy previous...

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News
Manned Systems

CMG Adapts ‘Proactive’ Seating for Commercial Vehicles

Comfort Motion Global (CMG) engineers have developed and refined a “proactive” Motion Seating software technology throughout the past 15 years that improves blood flow and...

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What We’re Driving
Mechanical & Fluid Systems

What We’re Driving: 2020 Infiniti QX80

Body-on-frame luxury SUVs are a curious thing. It’s difficult to imagine a customer in the market for an SUV that approaches a six-figure price also desiring the burly characteristics that come...

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News
Unmanned Systems

JLR Developing a “Morphable” Smart Seat

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) Research Lead Engineer Dave Withey has invented a seat design that may be the closest yet to a fits-all system for comfort and safety. Rather than use pneumatics for...

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News
Manufacturing & Prototyping

Faurecia Creates ‘Personal Bubbles’ for AVs

App-led exercises that unfold while seated, and audio selections heard via the seat headrest illustrate the types of wellness and comfort options that supplier Faurecia envisions with its...

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Articles
Manufacturing & Prototyping

Magna Fighting COVID-19 with Ozone

An ozone-generating process that kills germs is being evaluated by supplier Magna for potential use in vehicle cabins, as the mobility industry seeks sustainable solutions for protecting passenger health....

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News
Power

What We’re Driving: 2020 Acura RDX

Acura’s RDX midsize crossover has established itself as an industry benchmark in body engineering, vehicle dynamics, cabin design and related metrics. All this basic goodness has helped this 2-row SUV...

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News
Materials

Porsche to Use 3D Printing to Customize Seats

Porsche is enacting a pilot program that employs 3D printing to create a customized “comfort layer” in a bucket seat that allows the user to select from several levels of support based on...

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News
Connectivity

SAE Symposium Covers New Approaches in Thermal Management

Vehicle thermal management, once almost exclusively about safely rejecting powertrain heat, continues to evolve to dealing with two extremes in operation of battery electric...

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