“Do those of us who own cars with bench seats…really have that many (any) girl friends ?”
@dagosa: My wife doesn’t let me have any girlfriends. It’s so unfair!
If you are old enough to remember when bench seats were common and comfortable, like me, you probably don’t have the energy for or remember what to do with …
I don’t know why you can’t get them, but I disagree that bench seats are all that comfortable. First, you can’t have the front passengers have different seat settings, so if you have a shorter driver, a passenger might be very uncomfortable with no leg room for them. Second, I always felt like I was sliding around on a bench seat, wheras a modern seat keeps me in place on curves. Maybe I drive too fast for bench seats?
The obvious answer is…It’s a government conspiracy!
Don’t you know that anything and everything you don’t like is the result of some type of nefarious government conspiracy?
;-))
The previous generation Chevy Impala was the last car to be offered with a bench for the us (from what i’ve been reading) and by the time the new model was about to be introduced only 10% of Impalas were ordered with the front bench seat.
Dag,I resemble that remark!
Minivans or SUVs essentially handle the >5 families.
I would like to be wrong but I can see someone laying a less than one year old child on a bench seat beside them while they drive like we did years ago before we knew better.
I want my 56 DeSoto back.
I hate to point it out, VDC, but you may have hit on the real answer for the original question. It may be that bench seats simply won’t hold the passengers in place and/or protect them sufficient to pass current crash tests.
Won’t the seat belts hold you in place? I have done a lot of spirited driving, sometimes, long past the statute of limitations, and never had trouble staying behind the wheel, at least when the vehicle was right side up.
I don’t know if seatbelts would hold you in place sufficiently to pass today’s side impact tests. I seriously doubt if they would. Spirited driving of even the felonious kind creates lateral forces, but with low acceleration rates. Even a race driver on a track can only get around 1G of lateral force.
Impact creates large spikes, generating far, far higher G forces. Side impact tests accelerate mass at a rate that generates far, far higher G forces. With a 40mph side hit, the question becomes how many times gravity does it take to accelerate the mass from static to 40mph in the small fraction of a second that the crash takes. The acceleration rate causes the G force to skyrocket.
The 76 Impala had a very comfortable, plain seat. I’m always dropping stuff between the console and the bucket seat. Bench seats would be a luxury thing today. Manual heating and ventilation controls would be great. You could always find a good setting. Vent windows were great. Today, the cars are cookie cutter common.
A split (50-50) front seat allows the driver and a passenger to have different amounts of leg room while providing ample bottom room. Been looking to buy a new luxury car (not an SUV) but cannot find one with a split front seat.
The middle front position was not awkward for me as a kid. I was usually standing up.
My 5 year old Grandson broke the engagement with his 5 year old Fianc’ee when he was told married men aren’t allowed to have girlfriends.
Bench seats up front are rare in cars, but they still exist. The 2017 Chevy Suburban offers one. So does the Silverado pickup. Both mainly for work vehicles that may carry all-adult workers. I think if you look for a 9-person van of the type used for commercial businesses, like airport shuttles and similar you may find more options. The Chevy Express van can seat up to 12 or 15 passengers depending upon its configuration. One reason they are less common is our habits. Children are no longer carried up front. My own state of Mass. is planning to make it illegal unless the vehicle has no other seats available (2-passenger vehicles for example). In the consumer market, it is extremely unusual for a shopper to want to carry more than four adults comfortably. Minivans and Highlander-sized crossover can carry up to eight passengers now, so it is hard to imagine why a bench would be a big draw for automakers.
From the GM web site the Express vans all come with 2 buckets in front, with the last row seating 4. No bench option.
I think there is nothing besides work pickups and a few work-trim Suburbans that offer a front bench, any more.
Most likely you won’t. But that is why all manufactures have web sites that show exterior and interior of their vehicles.
The person who opened this old thread said " Luxury Car " why mention pickups and Suburban’s ?
A luxury car is going to have front buckets with power , heating and cooling. Why would you want a split seat anyway.
Only about half the country believes everything is a government conspiracy. The other half thinks everything is a corporate conspiracy, you know, big oil, big pharmacy, big auto, big agriculture, big whatever…
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