“Comfortable Seat with Spinal Support”

Promising an ultimate level of comfort to every scene of driving, all the way through from entering to exiting of the vehicle... One of Nissan’s measures to achieve this goal is in the development of “fatigue-free seats”. What Nissan sought was the ideal posture able to reduce the fatigue of both the driver and passengers, which would be able to make long periods of driving a pleasant experience. Numerous research and analysis on both the human body and cars lead to the “neutral posture”. According to NASA’s measurements, this relaxed posture which human beings take in a weightless environment is known to pose minimum levels of whole body loads, allowing for the maintenance of the posture through long periods of time. If this concept could be applied to the car seat, many more people would be able to enjoy long drives. The constantly comfort-providing “Comfortable seat with spinal support” has been developed utilizing proven ergonomic technology through Nissan’s thorough investigation into bringing about less fatigue to the occupants and also through measuring, analyzing and evaluating “comfort”.

The first challenge in the development process was in working out how to maintain the neutral posture achieved in a weightless environment on the seat. Through a joint research program with Yamazaki Laboratory at Keio University, using a seat simulator and a musculo-skeletal model for seating analysis, Nissan now has the know-how to reduce loads to the smallest amount on each muscular and spinal area from the seated position. Along with this, Nissan has used control of the distribution of local deformation characteristics around seatback in its initial shape to help realise the optimal support condition. The “Neutral Posture Concept” provides continuous support from the pelvis to the chest works to reduce muscular and spinal loads and improve blood flow, thereby reducing fatigue over long periods. In addition, conventional material is being used for this new concept. The creation of the “Comfortable seat with spinal support” makes long and pleasant drives possible by fundamentally altering the structure of seats. Nissan technology and its application of science to people have realized yet another achievement.