The automotive industry is facing increasing pressure to reduce weight and cost in vehicle design and development. Blow molded seatbacks for rear seating offers an opportunity to reduce weight and cost and meet US and European government regulations, including FMVSS 207, 210 and 225 in the US and ECE 17 (luggage retention) in Europe. This new generation of rear seating design has been achieved through the combination of innovative design, blow molding processing and an unfilled thermoplastic that performs over a wide range of temperatures. The plastic seatback eliminates the need for steel reinforcements to pass the loading requirements. This technology was first introduced by Dow Automotive in 2000 for rear seatbacks. Several prototype designs were tested and optimized for different latch configurations to meet the federal requirements. This led to the successful introduction on the 2006 Audi TT in Europe. This resulted in a mass savings of 1.2Kg. High stiffness is achieved through closed sections within the double shell blow molded structure. Blow molding also offers reduced development time and tooling costs when compared to more traditional steel designs.
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