Johnson Controls' Slim Stow Seat increases cargo space and offers improved seating comfort

Johnson Controls has introduced a new design for second row seats in pickup trucks. When stowed, the Slim Stow Seat takes up 33 per cent less space, maximises seating comfort and is lighter weight compared to traditional rear truck seats. It also improves visibility for the driver.

"Our Slim Stow Seat enables us to set new standards in foldable rear seats in pickups," said Dr. Andreas Eppinger, Vice President Technology Management at Johnson Controls Automotive Experience. "It surpasses previous seating concepts in terms of comfort, cargo space and appearance. It also improves visibility when stowed since the seat back is lowered 100 millimeters."

Side-bolsters integrate the passenger in the seat
The seat panel consists of two components. The upper part, a tubular frame design, features the child seat attachment points and defined side-bolsters. Through this unique design, the Slim Stow Seat also provides lateral support and contour that is usually found exclusively in front-row pickup truck seating.

The lower part of the seat features a stable arm. It carries the seat pad, which features 50 percent more foam than usual in the relevant areas. "This, together with the side-bolsters, ensures superior comfort while fulfilling safety requirements," explained Eppinger. "Even with the bolsters and padding, the seat's movement enables space-saving stowage."

Easy handling and optimised visibility due to downward-sliding backrest
The Slim Stow Seat deploys and stows using an intuitive, one-hand operation, making it easy to reconfigure the interior space from outside the vehicle.

By pushing the seatback rearward, the kinematics shift it downward by approximately 100 millimeters (3.9 inches) to increase visibility and safety.

During a series of in-house benchmark tests, the Technology & Advanced Development Group compared the Slim Stow Seat with the rear seats of four of the most popular pickup trucks. "The Slim Stow Seat sets new standards in all categories tested, which included cargo capacity, user friendliness, seating comfort, material compression and ease of assembly," said Eppinger. Further advantages include weight savings, enabled by a 30 per cent reduction in the usage of materials.