A power seat in an

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...

is a

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair (furniture), ...

in a passenger compartment that can be adjusted using a button,

switch In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type of ...

joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...

and a set of small

electric motor An electric motor is an Electric machine, electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a Electromagneti ...

s. Most cars with this feature have controls for the driver's seat only, though almost all luxury cars also have power controls for the front passenger seat. In addition to fore and aft adjustments, power seats can be raised or lowered and tilted to suit the comfort of the driver and/or passenger. Many power seats allow occupants to adjust the seat lumbar or seatback recline, all at the push of a button or flick of a switch. Cars which do not have this feature have a

lever A lever is a simple machine consisting of a beam or rigid rod pivoted at a fixed hinge, or ''fulcrum''. A lever is a rigid body capable of rotating on a point on itself. On the basis of the locations of fulcrum, load and effort, the lever is div ...

or bar to provide fore and aft adjustments.

Memory seat

Some cars also have

memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...

adjustments, which can recall (usually) two different adjustments of the seat by pressing a button. The 1981 Cadillac was the first car to offer this feature in its modern version. By the 1990s, these systems began allowing customized settings and adjustments for such conveniences as side mirrors, steering wheel, and lumbar support.

History

Power seats began appearing in automobiles in the late 1940s. Most early seats were fore-aft only, which saved little work. The four way power seats showed up in the introduction of the 1955 Ford Thunderbird allowing fore/aft and up/down controls. A six-way power seat appeared in the late 1950s. Most power seats in newer cars are either six- or eight-way. The earliest form of a "memory" seat was introduced by Ford Motor Company on two of its 1957 models: the

Ford Thunderbird The Ford Thunderbird (colloquially called the T-Bird) is a personal luxury car produced by Ford from model years 1955 until 1997 and 2002 until 2005 across 11 distinct generations. Introduced as a two-seat convertible, the Thunderbird was pr ...

and the

Mercury Turnpike Cruiser The Mercury Turnpike Cruiser is a series of automobiles that were produced by the Mercury division of Ford for the 1957 and 1958 model years. Named to commemorate the creation of the Interstate Highway System, the Turnpike Cruiser was marketed ...

. The "Dial-a-Matic" seat used a letter-and-numerical dial that adjusted the height and either fore or aft of the front seat to the driver's tastes; when the ignition was switched off, it moved back to the rearmost, lowest position to allow easy exit and entry, then moved back to the last "dialed" position when the ignition was started again. The "Dial-a-Matic" seat was dropped after the 1958 model year.

References

{{CarDesign nav Automotive accessories

Memory seat

History

See also

References