It’s safe to say that after having them be common for over a century, we tend to take cars for granted. And even within cars there are plenty of unsung heroes, little clever things that make driving and cars so much better, if we ever thought about them. So what feature of a car do you think is the most taken for granted?
There’s one very common feature in cars that’s absolutely transformative of how the car can be used, and it’s also one of the most low-tech, humblest features around. It has the ability to completely change how your car can be used, and it’s found on the cheapest shitboxes to the most expensive fecalchests. It’s the folding rear seat.
Think about what the folding rear seat can do— it can transform your boring old sedan in to a useful work truck, or let you sleep in your sporty coupé, or let you bone comfortably in your station wagon, or just haul lumber or a washing machine or something. It’s just a couple of hinges, but it changes how your car can be used more than almost anything. And I think that deserves some recognition.
I think Kaiser was the first to have one, too, though the Reliant Scimitar, of all cars, was the first to have split folding rear seats.
So what do you think? I’m curious.