I mean, they’re pretty cool. If you has 4 kids, you don’t need to get a crossover SUV like nowadays. If you’re a teenager and wants to hang out with your friends around the town, they’re also pretty cool. If your gf/wife wants more space to spread her legs and arms, it’s also great. Then, why did they kill these seats? And you older folks who lived the bench seat era, what are the experiences you had with them?
by soladois
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29 Comments
companies got rid of them for sportier more comfortable buckets and to have full center consoles and then customers decided they preferred the buckets. The last bench seat cars – avalon impala were old man cars and still customers vastly preferred buckets
some people say airbags but I mean benches survived into the 2010s
I wish there were bench seats now because I really love my wife and wish you could sit next to me while we were driving.
Very hard to have a shoulder belt.
Miss bench seats terribly. Got old and can’t deal with the confines of buckets & console or the horribly poor seat cushion quality of cars in the past +20 years. There’s no springs in them anymore, just a stamped sheet metal “bucket”, handful of suspension wires and a chunk of foam.
Essentially for safety reasons; you can’t have a shoulder belt in the front middle at all
I heard that it is easier and safer for the airbags without a third passenger.
Safety, probably. They definitely aren’t as comfortable as bucket seats, but they allow a lot more room for…. activities
Probably safety reasons, you can’t have an airbag in the middle because that’s where the head unit/HVAC is.
Smaller cars, smaller families, marketing/sportier, buckets make life much easier if you’re part of a couple with a big height difference.
Better support, increased safety, better comfort, improved aesthetics, reduced fatigue, more customizable layout options…
Old school bench seats like this wouldn’t apply to modern safety standards, and the center console has become so standard that consumers would be very upset by its removal. Trucks still do have sort of a bench seat, with a flip up center console. Cars today have become too small for them to work in anything but trucks now.
Safety and perception. Bench seats became synonymous with cars that were perceived as being for old people. Can’t exactly have airbags in the center either.
I wish the made a comeback. Bucket seats absolutely suck, especially because car makers make them too stiff because “sporty” or they don’t fit if you’re not the exact height and weight to fill it.
The picture looks like a 78 or 79 Chevy Impala
Safety
I had a split bench.in my 72 AMC Ambassador. Basically a bench but a split in the middle so each side could be adjusted independently. Good idea really.
They can make a front bench with working airbags, the passenger side airbag is just made a bit wider for the center seat. I had a 2011 f150 with a front bench. The center seat was independent of the other two seats, 40/20/40 bench is what they called it.
They’re just unpopular. No one wants a column shifter anymore which is the only way they work.
I imagine safety had a lot to do with it. No way to secure the middle passenger with a three-point belt. Also, maybe drivers wanted space?
Stick shifts
And safety belts
Bucket seats have all got to go
When we’re driving
In the car
It makes my baby seem so far…
I’m 70 do you want my R rated experiences or my X rated experiences?
Bucket seats were seen as sportier in the 50s and 60s, then most if not all of the European luxury brands used them in the 70s, and since the Euro brands were just better than the American brands, they bucket seats were seen as more luxurious and high end, in addition to being sportier
The bench is one of the many reasons I love driving my ’75 D100 truck all summer. 3 on the tree, bench seat, wing windows and rear sliding window. It’s bliss in simplicity!
I will also say, everytime I see a teenager driving at older truck with his girl friend tucked up tight, I think “ah, living the dream boy, live the dream”
Cause too many ouchies
Aah the black vinyl bench seat. Frozen in the winter, scorching in the summer.
Because buckets
I think Herb Tarlick had a suit made from these.
I love bench seats it’s the best date night vehicle ever.. nothing like being able to snuggle up while driving or just parked somewhere.
I’d guess air bags. People have to be in the correct positions in the front of the vehicle for the air bags to be effective.
My front arm rest still folds up to be a seat if needed.
I grew up with bench seats and found that you would slide around when cornering and they almost always sagged into the corners after a few years of use. The centre console is now so useful to rest my arm on when driving.