Smarter Seats

Johnson Controls offers automakers seats that feature more-sustainable designs and materials

When it comes to automotive seating, comfort is of paramount concern.

Consumers want to see profound comfort provided with environment-friendly materials—and Johnson Controls is responding.

In one example, company engineers have succeeded in replacing a portion of the petroleum-based polyurethane used in conventional foam padding in automotive seats with natural-oil polyols (NOPs). NOPs include renewable resources, such as castor, canola, palm and soy oils. As a result of this innovation, customers are offered a global, sustainable solution in vehicle seat foam.

Even better, with its global presence, Johnson Controls can match local, sustainable solutions to resource availability, taking advantage of the abundance of various natural resources in specific world regions. For example, soy is abundant in North America, where Johnson Controls manufactures soy oil-based foam seats for 11 different vehicle platforms. In Malaysia, where palm oil is plentiful, the company will begin producing seat-foam products using palm oil this year.

Synergy Seat
Johnson Controls’ engineers have also set an industry milestone for mass reduction with the Synergy Seat—reductions range from 20 to 27 percent compared with current seating systems. This innovation is a production-ready seat system for both standard and hybrid vehicles. It is nearly 100 percent recyclable, requires less foam than conventional seats and offers a high level of passenger comfort.

This seat technology incorporates a cutting-edge lightweight seat structure. The all-steel version is 32 percent lighter than conventional systems, and the aluminum-steel model—targeting hybrid vehicles—is up to 40 percent lighter. The seat’s comfort shell, side shields and back panels are all made of recyclable polypropylene. The seat is covered with an earth-friendly material made from a new generation of technically advanced, polyurethane-based products.