What is a swivel seat? The swivel seat is a car seat specially designed for people in wheelchairs, the elderly, mothers and infants, etc. It can rotate out of the car and drop to a certain height to help passengers with limited mobility get in and out of the car.
In recent years, as our country has vigorously promoted the construction of a barrier-free society and the aging of the population has intensified, barrier-free facilities such as swivel seats have begun to be promoted and popularized around us. In the past, barrier-free
facilities could only be seen on public transportation. Now many car companies have made swivel seats a standard feature, and more and more families have installed swivel seats to facilitate the travel of the elderly and patients at home.
Nowadays, more and more cars are equipped with swivel seats, so which cars are suitable for installing swivel seats? As the leading manufacturer of swivel seats in China, Xindtech will talk to you about this issue today.
From the perspective of modification of swivel seats, the first thing to consider is the interior space and door size. swivel seats require a certain amount of space to achieve rotation and lifting movements. When refitting, we often have to reserve a certain safety distance for passengers to prevent the seats from colliding with the passengers' bodies during operation. If there is not enough space in the car or the door size is too small, the car body will block the seat from rotating out. Even if the seat can be barely rotated out through route programming adjustment, there is not enough space left. Passengers should try to curl up when using it to avoid being caught. It hit, and the ride experience was not good. Different models have different installation locations due to different spatial structures. MPV models will be installed in the middle row, and swivel seats can be installed on both the left and right sides; while sedan and SUV models are generally installed in the passenger position.
Let’s analyze it from the perspective of vehicle grade and model:
1. Vehicle level
According to the German automobile classification standards, passenger cars are generally divided into the following grades:
· A00 class refers to mini-cars, the representative model is Wuling Hongguang MINIEV;
· A0 class refers to small cars, representative models include Honda Fit and BYD Seagull;
· A-class refers to compact cars, representative models include Corolla and Sylphy;
· B-class refers to mid-size cars, including Camry, Accord and Model Y;
· C-class refers to medium and large cars, with representative models such as Audi A6L and Ideal L8;
· D-class refers to large cars, and the representative model looks up to U8.
The classification of grades is mainly based on parameters such as wheelbase, displacement, and weight. The further the alphabetical order is, the longer the wheelbase, displacement, and weight of the car in that class.
Based on our many years of vehicle modification experience, B-class and above-class models, whether they are cars, SUVs, or MPVs, can basically meet the requirements for swivel seat modification in terms of space.
The compact class of cars in China not only has a large proportion, but also has a wide variety of models, and also has a large gap in space and size. Some compact cars are almost the same as small cars, while others are comparable to mid-sized cars.
Take Nissan's sedan models as an example. Nissan's Tiida, Blue Bird, and Sylphy are all compact sedans. The 2024 Tiida has a length of 4393mm and a wheelbase of 2700mm, while the 2024 Sylphy has a length of 4652mm and a wheelbase of 2700mm.
2712mm, there is a big space gap between the two. As far as installing swivel seats is concerned, the space of Sylphy fully meets the requirements, but Tiida cannot install it. Therefore, for compact vehicles, we cannot generalize and need to analyze specific models.
However, in general, there are still many models that can be modified with swivel seats.
As for small cars and mini cars, the space is very limited. Unless some major modifications and upgrades are made, swivel seats cannot be installed.
2. Model
1. MPV
There is no doubt that MPV is a suitable vehicle for modifying swivel seats. Among our many swivel seat modification cases, MPVs account for a large part, whether it is the long-lasting Buick GL8, Toyota Sienna, Honda Odyssey, or domestic MPVs that have emerged in
recent years, such as Trumpchi M8, Tencent Shi D9, there are many modification cases. Compared with cars and SUVs that are modified in the passenger position, MPVs have a larger space advantage in the middle row. The seats are less likely to hit the passengers'
footsteps and heads when rotating in and out of the door. Moreover, the middle doors of MPVs mostly use side sliding doors. Instead of straight-pull doors, there is no door blocking the seat when it is extended, and the programming route is relatively simple. In addition,
in terms of safety, MPV middle-row seats now all use three-point safety belts. When the vehicle crashes, all the impact force is borne by the seats and swivel mechanisms, which can greatly reduce the injuries suffered by passengers. In this regard, Xindtech swivel
Seats also specially conducted crash tests with dummies and seat belt tension tests to ensure the safety of passengers.
2. Cars and SUVs
Although MPV is suitable for modification, its market share is not high. swivel seats are still mostly used for family purposes, and family cars are definitely dominated by sedans and SUVs. In recent years, more and more car and SUV owners have come to inquire about
and modify swivel seats. Cars and SUVs are usually modified in the passenger seat, which has certain requirements on the space and size of the vehicle, so not all cars can be modified with swivel seats. Usually, when a customer asks whether the seats in his car can
be modified if it is a model that we have not modified, we ask the customer to measure the spatial data of the passenger position, such as the height of the door sill from the ground, the door opening angle, and the distance between the center door. Use the door
interior dimensions and other data to initially determine whether swivel seats can be installed. After several years of modification, we have had many successful cases of sedans and SUV models, such as Nissan Sylphy, Haval Big Dog, Haval H9, and Toyota Rav4. Fang,
Toyota BZ3, Lexus RX350H, Volkswagen Tiguan L, BMW X5, Audi Q8, etc.
3. RV
In recent years, the RV tourism market has shown a continuous upward trend. Pursuing freedom and being able to go wherever you want, the popularity of RV self-driving travel continues to rise, and it is becoming the travel method chosen by many people. Even if the body
is inconvenient, it cannot stop the heart that yearns for freedom. When a Yutong C530 RV owner modified the swivel seat, he expressed that he hoped to travel with his family in this way and experience the great rivers of the motherland.
Caring for the travel of disabled people, swivel seats are gradually changing the travel methods of people with mobility impairments, bringing more convenience to their lives. As a leading manufacturer of automotive barrier-free facilities, a specialized small and medium-sized
enterprise in Jiangsu Province, and a national-level high-tech enterprise, Xindetek has more than 20 years of experience in R&D and manufacturing of welfare seats. Currently, it has cooperated with GAC Trumpchi, Toyota, SAIC Maxus and other OEMs have reached cooperation
to jointly develop welfare models and have become standard seats for welfare models such as the Trumpchi M8. We constantly pursue research and development innovation, pay close attention to product quality, and strive to provide practical barrier-free facilities to society,
so that people with disabilities can truly feel the benefits of barrier-free facilities.
