Best Seats in the House

They don’t call it long haul for nothing. The daily grind of 10 or more hours of continuous driving-fuel and rest stops notwithstanding-can make a long-haul driver really appreciate a well-designed, comfortable seat.

Seat adjustment and ride quality have traditionally been areas of dissatisfaction with drivers, in both linehaul and on/off-road environments. They may have legitimately felt that seating technology wasn’t advancing at the rate of components on the rest of the truck.

“Until maybe three or four years ago, I’d say they were right,” says Duane Gaza, a marketing executive with seat manufacturer Kustom Fit. “But since the mid-Nineties there have been some significant advances, with more to come.”

Air-ride bases-manufacturers speak of “lowers” and “uppers” when it comes to a seat system, with the lower being the base/suspension and the upper being the actual seat-have been around for years, and offer the shock-absorbing benefit on a seat that similar technology does for a cab or trailer, thanks to air bags and a “damper” cylinder (usually hydraulic).

But more advanced systems don’t just react to a bump on the road, but can actually anticipate it.

“Our Motion Master product is an ‘electronic shock absorber’ for the air-ride seat base that uses a microprocessor and sensors to detect the very start of a movement coming up from the cab floor, sending 500 commands per second to the damper to adjust the viscosity of the fluid inside and thereby change the degree of vibration control,” says Doug LeRoy of retrofit-kit maker Lord Corp., in Cary, N.C., which introduced this space-age system to the market in March 1998.

Motion Master uses magneto-rheologic (MR) fluids, which are like an oil with microscopic metal particles in it. When exposed to a magnetic field, the fluid’s viscosity can be instantly changed from a liquid to a near-solid, or any state in between.

Thus, the hydraulic effect of the damper in a seat base can be controlled by the microprocessor-which generates the magnetic field. The result is instantaneous adjustments intended to reduce the topping and bottoming associated with manual seat controls. “It’s possible for the driver to select a ‘soft,’ ‘medium,’ or ‘firm’ ride,” LeRoy sums up, “and the system will still function automatically across a range of responses within each category.”

Motion Master has been offered on high-end Bostrom seats since 1998, and other seatmakers are expected to announced its availability this month at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky.

What else may be ahead for seats? One feature is “pressure-mapping,” whereby sensors in the seat measure each driver’s weight distribution and adjust the various support areas around the seat to create a custom fit. And comfort features like air conditioning, which blows cool air across the surface of the seat, and speakers in the headrest to produce “white noise” that blocks out distracting road sounds, aren’t far away.

Some vendors already offer an electronic massage feature to counteract muscle stiffness from sitting behind the wheel for long periods of time.

COSTS & BENEFITS

Of course, nothing comes for free, and it’s always been a tough judgment call in marketing seats to know how much more a customer will pay for added convenience and ride quality. One industry observer estimates that state-of-the-art technology could add as much as 75% to a seat’s cost-an inhibitor to market demand, especially from fleets. “An owner-operator may well feel that it’s worth it for his one truck, but if you’re deciding on such features for hundreds of tractors, that bottom-line dollar figure can look intimidating,” he says.

However, in today’s tight driver market, the decision to provide higher-quality seats has become more compelling, and an increased appreciation of the benefit such features provide at vehicle trade-in time is also buttressing the argument in favor of fleets spec’ing more than just a bare-bones model.

PLAYERS & PRODUCTS

Here’s an ultra-concise rundown of many of the seat and component makers uncovered in researching this article, and selected notations of their top-of-the-line models.

Amobi Seats, Amos, Que. The AM-2000 model offers eight independent air bags in the seating cushion instead of foam, while the seat base itself incorporates four bags in the suspension.

Bostrom Seating, Piedmont, Ala. The Talladega LSO incorporates the Motion Master ride-management system from Lord Corp., and also offers ParaBar-II active air lumbar support.

Comfort Ride, Eden Prairie, Minn. The maintenance-free MF Series’ features and options include a three-chamber air lumbar cushion, seven-chamber seat, and back support, dual adjustable arm rests, as well as the “Flex-O-Lator” coil-spring mounted base.

Freightliner Corp., Portland, Ore. The EzyRider is a proprietary, pneumatically controlled seat for Century Class S/T, Argosy, and Columbia trucks. Dual air-bag lumbar support is included, and the base’s parallel-arm suspension eliminates sliding parts.

Gra-Mag, Livonia, Mich. This relatively new firm’s in-house bio-sciences department designed seat-cushion foam contours and firmness based on input from numerous real-world truckers. The seats also include a climate-control system and integrated seat belts that do not require attachment to the cab.

Isringhausen, Battle Creek, Mich. The Model 6800 Premium and Premium LX family offers 40 degrees of back-rest adjustment, quick air release for fast cab ingress and egress, a side air bolster for anti-sway support (LX), and seven inches of fore-and-aft seat travel.

JB Research, Bellflower, Calif. Offers the add-on Relaxor “vibro-tactile” massage seat system, in lumbar-only or lumbar and thigh positions. Includes “drowsy driver” alerting feature.

Knoedler Manufacturers, St. Hubert, Que./Battle Creek, Mich. The Air Chief 9800 Series has a low-profile scissors suspension with integral isolator that also offers a self-contained model with integral compressor. Seat has three positions for seat-cushion extension/angle adjustment, and back is fully reclinable.

Kustom Fit, South Gate, Calif. The “Big Daddy” seat includes multi-position recline, infinitely adjustable Schukra lumbar support, adjustable arm rests with finger-tip control, cold-pour-molded or high-resilient foam padding, and ComfortAlert massage system.

Lord Corp., Cary, N.C. Developer of the Motion Master magneto-rheological fluid-based suspension.

National Seating, Vonore, Tenn. The National Premium 2000 Series includes a three-chamber power air lumbar, six-way front-cushion adjustment, power cushion and back bolsters, and up to 23-degree back recline. Flip-up armrests are optional add-ons.

Recaro North America, Clawson, Mich. The Profi Class P seat includes a pneumatic vibration-damping system and electrical height adjuster, plus manual side-bolster adjustment. A proprietary vent system combats sweaty backs and undersides of thighs.

Sears Seating, Davenport, Iowa The Voyager Series has an infinitely adjustable dual-chamber air lumbar (optionally mechanical), and the recliner feature is adjustable in two-degree increments. Available in high-back and low-back styles.

Seats Canada, Mississauga, Ont. The Summit DLX has a four-way electrically powered lumbar, fully reclining backrest, floating-swing-link fore-and-aft “Glide-A-Lator”, and four-way-adjustable seat-cushion angle and height adjustment.

Wise Co., Piggott, Ark. The Air Express offers adjustable lumbar support, three-position seat-cushion tilt, Ride Firmness Control to prevent bottoming-out, manual air valve for height-weight adjustment, and five-inch fore-and-aft adjustment.