Adient has collaborated with FCA US LLC to produce a “vision of the future of seating” for the automaker’s Chrysler Portal concept vehicle.
The company says the Chrysler Portal is a forward-thinking interpretation of the “fifth generation” of family transportation targeted at the millennial generation. The vehicle was unveiled by FCA US at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
The seat will be displayed at Adient’s booth at the 2017 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit’s Cobo Center next week.
Designed with supplier partners like Adient, the interior of the Chrysler Portal concept offers the driver and passengers a “third space” – “an open and serene atmosphere that provides an alternative environment between work and home,” according to FCA US.
“We took great pride in collaborating with FCA US on the seat for this visionary vehicle,” said Richard Chung, vice president of innovation for Adient. “Our advance engineering team worked closely with the FCA US team to develop the innovative features of the Chrysler Portal seat, which addresses trends such as urbanization and autonomous driving.”
According to Chung, the Chrysler Portal’s seat concept is a thin seat that folds flat, folds up and slides fore and aft on a track system for ultimate flexibility. The seats mount to tracks embedded in the floor, enabling the seats to move the full length of the vehicle and, if needed, to be removed easily from the rear of the vehicle.
The seat sits on tracks on a narrow pedestal design that has multiple embedded functions. For example, the pedestal includes a release handle for easy adjustment when the seat is in a stadium flip-up position.
The Chrysler Portal vehicle seat also offers a new approach to reclining, which includes a proprietary relationship to cushion adjustment. To increase interior space, the stadium flip-up feature allows the seats to stack against each other on the long track design. A fold-flat design allows the vehicle to carry larger items on the seatbacks, as they lay flat to the vehicle floor.