sierracecilia94Your little one out grown his first stage car seat? Well here s an idea for your next one. I made the decision of buying this car seat for my little one and I ve been completely satisfied and so has my...Read More about Cosco Car Seat "Driver's seat" redirects here. For the 1978 single by Sniff 'n' the Tears, see Driver's Seat. This article is about the fixed seats installed in an automobile. For seats specially designed to protect children from injury or death in a vehicular collision, see Child safety seat. For the song by Blind Melon, see Car Seat (God's Presents). A BMW Alpina car seat in common arrangement A car seat is the seat used in automobiles. Most car seats are made from inexpensive but durable material in order to withstand prolonged use. The most common material is polyester. Rear bench seat for three adult passengers in a AMC Ambassador Main articles: Bucket seat and Bench seat A bucket seat is a separate seat with a contoured platform designed to accommodate one person, distinct from a bench seat that is a flat platform designed to seat up to three people.
Individual bucket seats typically have rounded backs and may offer a variety of adjustments to fit different passengers. Early touring cars featured folding auxiliary seats to offer additional passenger capacity. Some sedan models offer fold-down rear seats (e.g. Chevrolet Corvair), to gain cargo space when they are not occupied by passengers. A fold-down front-passenger seat was a feature on the Chrysler PT Cruiser to fit longer items such as a 8-foot (2.4 m) ladder inside the vehicle. Ergonomy: lumbar and thigh support The lumbar is the region of the spine between the diaphragm and the pelvis; it supports the most weight and is the most flexible. The adjustable lumbar mechanisms in seats allow the user to change the seat back shape in this region, to make it more comfortable and include adjustable lumbar cushion. Some seats are long enough to support full thigh and follow back curves. The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act enacted by the U.S. in 1966 established standards of strength for automobile seats.
These included requirements for proper anchorage and construction of automobile vehicle seat assemblies.[3] The legal requirements in some jurisdictions for a child to sit up front is 5'0 and they must weigh more than 80 lbs. Some studies have shown that drivers have an aversion towards carrying the full capacity amount of passengers due to concerns over insufficient vision through the back window. The power seat adjustments in a Lincoln Town Car. The seat controls are located on the door panels, next to the memory seat controls. Above the seat settings are the memory control settings that also set the mirrors and foot pedals. Some car seat systems are set up with a battery-powered automatic control to adjust how the seat sits in the car. In suitably equipped cars, seats and mirrors can be adjusted using electric controls. Some vehicles let the driver(s) save the adjustments in memory (memory seat) for later recall, with the push of a button. Most systems allow users to store more than one set of adjustments.
This allows multiple drivers to store their comfort settings, or a single driver to store several different occupant positions. Some vehicles associate memorized settings with a specifically numbered, remotely operated key fob, resetting a seat to the position associated with that fob when the vehicle is unlocked (e.g. key fob #1 sets seats to memory position #1, #2 to #2, etc.). Car seat covers are accessories that protect the original seat upholstery from wear and add a custom look to a vehicle's interior. They can help to maintain the resale value of the vehicle and maximize the comfort of the driver and passengers. Some vehicles includes the option of seat climate control (i.e. heating by seat warmers) and ventilation. Ventilation was introduced in 1997 by Saab and heating by Cadillac in 1966. Default Title - $ 24.99 USD Continue Shopping or CheckoutEvery day, almost 90% of journeys and 92% of miles traveled are made in cars or ground transportation (buses, trucks).
For almost 180 millions of us, driving is the primary means of transportation, for journeys to and from work, to the store, and for pleasure. On average, men drive 44 miles and women drive 34 miles each day. We Americans love our cars. For some Americans, driving a motorized road vehicle is also their job: truck drivers, bus drivers, ambulance and fire trucks, police, taxis etc. Modern car and truck designs have come a long way in their design over the past 20 years, with better styling, better features, better fuel efficiency and better comfort. But is there any evidence that driving and the design of modern car, bus or truck seats might play a role in causing some of the back injuries that plague Americans each year? Why is driving different to ordinary sitting? If your car isn't moving, then sitting in a driving seat probably isn't much different to sitting in a padded chair, but as soon as the vehicle starts moving things change. Unlike regular sitting, while a vehicle is in motion the body is subject to different forces: to accelerations and decelerations, to lateral swaying from side to side, and to whole-body up and down vibrations.
Also, when driving the feet are actively being used, the right foot on the gas (accelerator) pedal, the left on the brake, and in a stick-shift also on the clutch. When the feet are active they cannot be used to support and stabilize the lower body as normally happens when they are placed on the floor during normal sitting in a chair. There is evidence that the combination of these factors, coupled with the design of the car seat itself, can increase the chance of back problems for some people. Is driving associated with back problems? Laboratory research has studied the effects of whole-body vibration when a person is sitting in a car seat. The lumbar spine has a natural resonant frequency of 4-5 Hz , and results show that this natural frequency can be excited by laboratory simulated vehicle driving, and this can lead to high spinal loadings in the lower back, and this in turn could result in greater postural discomfort and an increased risk of low back pain and injury. A number of research studies have investigated possible associations between driving and back problems, and generally these studies have found significant results.
A recent comparison of drivers in the USA and in Sweden found that in each country 50% of those questioned reported low back pain. Analysis of the possible reasons for this revealed that long-term vibration exposure from driving was among the highest risk factors for neck, back and low back problems. Another recent Swedish study of over 1,000 salespeople found significantly increased risks of neck and low back pain among those who drove long distances and spent a long time each day in their car. Gender appears to play a significant role in the likelihood of developing driving-related back problems. A survey of over 7000 Parisians found that even though the incidence and severity of low back pain was higher in women, driving was only associated with back problems in men. The importance of driving as a risk factor increased with driving time, and was especially significant for men who drove 4 hours or more each day. A survey of over 1400 urban transit drivers showed that difficulties with the ability to correctly adjust the driving seat have significant effects on the prevalence of low back problems.
However, it seems that driving need not always increase the risk of back problems. A survey of over 100 members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police found no statistically significant associations between driving a patrol car and the likelihood of experiencing back pain, which was comparable for drivers and other police officers. Is there an ideal car seat design? Based on a detailed analysis of information from peer-reviewed scientific journals and texts, automotive engineering reports, and the National Library of Medicine a series of requirements for the optimal car seat design have been developed. Ideally, the optimal car seat should have: What to look for in a good car seat design when you buy your next car. It's likely that most cars on the market today won't have all of the features listed above that are desirable in the optimal car seat, but some will have more than others, so choose wisely. Pay particular attention to the following 5 guidelines that should help you to protect your back when you drive.
1) Car seat comfort - when you sit in the car seat and you have adjusted this to fit your body as best you can does it feel comfortable. If not, then the car seat will probably cause you back discomfort problems if you drive for any length of time. Bounce up and down in the seat to see how it accommodates vibration. Take the car on a test drive. 2) Car seat adjustments - can you adjust all of the features of the car seat that you want to adjust? At a minimum you should be able to adjust: Then you should look for other useful adjustments: 3) Change your posture - remember to move your posture from time to time. Wait until driving conditions are suitable to allow you to wriggle in the seat to alleviate postural fatigue. 4) Take breaks - driving is tiring work and to avoid driver fatigue and minimize postural discomfort it is good take to fairly frequent rest breaks that allow you to stand up and move around. 5) Seat accessories - you can choose a variety of car seat accessories that may improve seat comfort for you, from fleece covers to soften the seat to bead backrests to provide for some kind of back massage while you drive.