Bench seat
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The traditional seat installed in American automobiles was the bench seat. This seat featured a continuous pad running the full width of the cabin. This typically allowed three people to sit abreast. Compare this to the bucket seat, that has a space between the two front seats. The bucket seat has largely replaced the bench seat; the bucket is viewed as "sportier" and smaller cars have made the middle position less viable. For high performance cars, bucket seats help keep the driver in place during high accelerations. Some larger cars are still available with bench seats, as are some trucks, which would only be able to seat two if bucket seats were fitted. The Chrysler K-cars; the Dodge Aries and the Plymouth Reliant were oddity models since they were compact cars that had front bench seating; and that bucket seats were usually the type of seating compact cars had. However, some models of the Kcars were available in bucket seating as well.
In almost all cars equipped with bench seats the transmission selector or shifter is moved to the steering column, and the emergency brake is activated by a pedal in the driver's footwell.
[edit] Trivia
The bench seat, as well as some other older car features, are celebrated in the song Stickshifts and Safety Belts by Cake. The bench seat, steering column mounted stick shift, and lack of seat belts are praised, as this allows a loved one to sit in contact with the driver. However, most modern bench seats do provide seat belts for all occupants.
This article about an automotive part or component is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
