Ford Motor Company has filed a patent for a vehicle seat with adaptive ventilation, Ford Authority has learned.
The patent was filed on October 5th, 2021, published on February 7th, 2023, and assigned serial number 11571997.
The Ford Authority Take
Ford has filed several seat-related patents in recent months, including one for a fully automatic seat positioning system, interchangeable seat cushions, a transformable rear seat for vehicles, and a vehicle seat with liquid cooling. Now, this new Ford patent keeps that trend alive by outlining an idea for a vehicle seat with adaptive ventilation, which could transform the way we cool off while riding around in our vehicles at some point in the future.
Many vehicles these days come equipped with ventilated seats that push heated or cooled air through to an occupant, but don’t have the capability to determine whether or not a person is making contact with any portion of the seat that’s being heated or cooled. Thus, this Ford patent aims to solve this particular problem by configuring seat air outlets to include a flexible funnel and a valve capable of opening, closing, and redirecting air flow as needed.
It’s a simple idea, and one that could improve the efficiency of ventilated seats rather than having hot or cool air just blow through every opening in the seat, whether it’s actually contacting a person’s body or not. It’s unclear how much of a difference this might make in terms of energy conservation or its effectiveness as it relates to providing heated or cooled air, though it seems as if both could see some improvements in that regard.
We’ll have more on this and all Ford patents soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for the latest Ford patent news, Ford business news, and comprehensive Ford news coverage.
Comments
Cool but… Once you get off the leather seats train: It’s simply not needed.
My track Mustang and GT350 both have Alcantara Recaro seats and my wife’s Edge ST has the “Miko” fabric (Same stuff as Alcantara, different brand name) sport seats. Result from several years even during 100 degrees track days : The normal car A/C is more than adequate. You just don’t sweat / get hot in the summer using these seats, unlike the leather seats I used to have in my cars since the 80’s: BTW, I live in Georgia where it gets pretty toasty in the summer.
As an added bonus, you don’t slide around in the corners with Alcantara / Miko seats like you do on leather and they wear far, far better / without the maintenance hassle.
I agree. During my 50 years of owning vehicles I owned one Lincoln TC with leather and I will never buy leather again.