Bucket Seat
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A bucket seat is a
car seat 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. Bucket seat and bench seat A bucket seat is a separate ...
contoured to hold one person, distinct from a flat
bench seat A bench seat is a full width continuous pad forming the front seat of automobiles. The second row of seating in most sedans is usually a bench. The third row of most SUVs and minivans, which may be forward-facing or rear-facing, is also a bench ...
designed to fit multiple people. In its simplest form it is a rounded seat for one person with high sides, but may have curved sides that partially enclose and support the body in high-performance automobiles. Before the World War II, the term ''Kübelsitzwagen'' (meaning ''bucket-seat car'') became popular in Germany, for light open-topped, cross-country and military vehicles without doors, because these were typically equipped with bucket seats, to help keep occupants on board, in an era before the adoption of seat belts. This body style had first been developed by in 1923. They are typically standard in front in fast cars to keep drivers and other passengers in place when turning at speed. Rear "bucket seats" are typically hybrids of bench and true bucket seats, being contoured generally like the latter but fixed in place, even when divided by a center console, and thus lacking a free-standing bucket seat's front-rear and backrest angle adjustability.


In American cars

Since their inception, American cars were equipped with
bench seat A bench seat is a full width continuous pad forming the front seat of automobiles. The second row of seating in most sedans is usually a bench. The third row of most SUVs and minivans, which may be forward-facing or rear-facing, is also a bench ...
s, like in carriages, which permitted multi-passenger seating. As European cars became more accessible to Americans following World War II, bucket seats became associated with sports performance and luxury. Bucket seats then spread to American manufacturers, beginning as "sporty trim packages" in the late 1950s and later appearing as a standard feature. The popularity of front bucket seats began to explode with the advent of sporty compact cars, pioneered by General Motors in 1960 when it produced its Chevrolet Corvair 900 series Monza Club Coupe with standard front bucket seats. By 1962, more than one million U.S. built cars were factory equipped with bucket seats; often, these were fitted with a center console containing a
gear shifter A gear stick (rarely spelled ''gearstick''), gear lever (both UK English), gearshift or shifter (both U.S. English), more formally known as a transmission lever, is a metal lever attached to the transmission of an automobile A car or aut ...
and other features such as ash trays, cigarette lighter, storage compartment, and
power window Power windows or electric windows are automobile windows which can be raised and lowered by pressing a button or switch, as opposed to using a crank handle. History Packard had introduced hydraulic window lifts (power windows) in fall of ...
controls between the seats. Large luxurious front bucket seats (and contoured "bucket-style" rears) made their debut in American
personal luxury cars Personal luxury car is a North American car classification describing somewhat sporty, sophisticated mass-market coupés that emphasized comfort over performance. The North American manufacturers most often combined engineering, design, and mark ...
with the debut of the 1963
Buick Riviera The Buick Riviera is a personal luxury car that was marketed by Buick from 1963 to 1999, with the exception of the 1994 model year. As General Motors' first entry into the personal luxury car market segment, the Riviera was highly praised by au ...
in late 1962 as a 1963 model. In 1964, Ford introduced the Mustang “pony car”, following the success of the sporty Corvair Monza further popularized the idea of standard front bucket seats - although a front bench seat was an available option. With the introduction of subcompact automobiles in the U.S. in the early 1970s, such as the
Chevrolet Vega The Chevrolet Vega is a subcompact automobile that was manufactured and marketed by GM's Chevrolet subdivision from 1970 to 1977. Available in two-door hatchback, notchback, wagon, and sedan delivery body styles, all models were powered by an ...
and
Ford Pinto The Ford Pinto is a subcompact car that was manufactured and marketed by Ford Motor Company in North America from 1971 until 1980 model years. The Pinto was the first subcompact vehicle produced by Ford in North America. The Pinto was marketed ...
, bucket seats were used for the same reasons they had originally appeared: lack of seating room and floor-mounted levers for the gear shifter and parking brake. While bucket seats continued to gain popularity among compact and sporty cars, the bench seat remained the preferred front seating arrangement in larger cars and trucks until the late 1990s. Increasingly, mid- and full-size domestic cars, as well as trucks, offered front bucket seating options for customers who wanted a sporty image or more personalized car. In the following decades this trend spread, with the last sedan to come with a standard front bench seat being the 2011
Lincoln Town Car The Lincoln Town Car is a model line of full-size luxury sedans that was marketed by the Lincoln division of the American automaker Ford Motor Company. Deriving its name from a limousine body style, Lincoln marketed the Town Car from 1981 to ...
, and the last to offer it as an option the 2013
Chevrolet Impala The Chevrolet Impala () is a full-size car built by Chevrolet for model years 1958 to 1985, 1994 to 1996, and 2000 to 2020. The Impala was Chevrolet's popular flagship passenger car and was among the better-selling American-made automobiles in ...
.
SUV A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon definiti ...
s spread widely during this time, universally with bucket seats in front. As of 2015, only some pickup trucks and SUVs retain the front bench seat.


Rear seating

Although rear seating in automobiles largely utilizes bench seats, some 2+2 cars have bucket-style seats in the rear. The first usage of rear bucket seats was in the 1960-1962 Chrysler 300 F,G & H coupes and convertibles inspired by the 1956
Chrysler Norseman The Chrysler Norseman was a four-seat fastback coupe built in 1956 as a concept car. Although designed by Chrysler's stylists, actual construction was contracted out to the Italian coach-building firm of Carrozzeria Ghia. The concept car was los ...
concept car. Long-
wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...
variants of full-size luxury cars, such as the Lexus LS 460L have an "executive seating package" option that reduces the rear to two passengers but provides them with more amenities. The
Porsche Panamera The Porsche Panamera is a mid/full-sized luxury car (E-segment/F-segment in Europe) manufactured and marketed by German automobile manufacturer Porsche across two generations using a front-engine, rear or all-wheel drive configuration. Pors ...
offers only bucket seats as the rear configuration despite its large size.


Third row seating

Individual bucket-style seats are also used in passenger vans and
minivan Minivan (sometimes called simply as van) is a North American car classification for vehicles designed to transport passengers in the rear seating row(s), with reconfigurable seats in two or three rows. The equivalent classification in Europe is ...
s, although they are not always referred to as such. Unlike those in cars, bucket seats in vans can be configured in different ways or even removed for more cargo storage. In the typical minivan configuration, the front and middle rows have two bucket seats each, while the third-row seat has a three-person bench, for a total of seven passengers.
Honda Odyssey Honda Odyssey can refer to three motor vehicles manufactured by Honda: * Honda Odyssey (ATV), an all-terrain vehicle (1977—1989) * Honda Odyssey (minivan), a brand of two different Honda minivan models for different markets ** Honda Odyssey (inte ...
2005-2010 models (except for the base trim) adds a stowable "PlusOneSeat" between the middle row bucket seats. The Australian
Mazda MPV The Mazda MPV (Multi-Purpose Passenger Vehicle) is a minivan manufactured by Mazda. Introduced in 1988 as a rear-wheel-drive model with optional selectable four-wheel drive, this was replaced in 1999 with a front-wheel-drive version with optional ...
has three seats in the middle and two in the last row. The
Chrysler Pacifica Chrysler Pacifica is a nameplate used by Chrysler for a variety of vehicles. The name was first used on a luxury minivan concept vehicle in 1999, and later a crossover concept in 2002. From 2004 to 2008, it was used on a mid-size crossover, and ...
was a luxury
crossover SUV A crossover, crossover SUV, or crossover utility vehicle (CUV) is a type of automobile with an increased ride height that is built on unibody chassis construction shared with passenger cars, as opposed to traditional sport utility vehicles ( ...
where all three rows were bucket seats.


Sport seats

A sport seat is an improved version of a bucket seat with advanced lateral support and ability to accommodate racing harnesses. Sport seats are designed according to the shape of a human body to provide advanced lateral support and weight distribution, which helps the driver withstand g-force while cornering. Sport seats come with special openings for 3-point, 4-point, or 5-point racing harnesses to increase safety in extreme driving conditions. These seats often are lighter in weight compared to stock bucket seats, which is vital for any sport car. They are universal and technically can be installed in any vehicle using model specific or universal bolt-on seat mounting brackets.


Suspension seats

A suspension seat is a variation of a sport bucket seat designed for
off-road vehicle An off-road vehicle, sometimes referred to as an overland or adventure vehicle, is considered to be any type of vehicle which is capable of driving on and off paved or gravel surface. It is generally characterized by having large tires with de ...
s. Unlike seats for sports cars, it is equipped with additional springs or suspension components that give extra shock absorption for bumps and jumps, making it softer and relatively more comfortable for the driver. While suspension seats provide more comfort for passengers, they are not considered safer than the static bucket seats used in motorsports.


References

{{Car-interior Auto parts Seating