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My bet is that the second row, at least with the seats shown, will not fold down at all but will merely slide forward and/or backwards.
The only control I see in the renderings of this row is one that appears to allow forward/backward movement.
At the very least one seat will do this independently of the others. At best, each second row seat will have the ability to be moved forward or backwards by itself.
The only control I see in the renderings of this row is one that appears to allow forward/backward movement.
At the very least one seat will do this independently of the others. At best, each second row seat will have the ability to be moved forward or backwards by itself.
I too have been saying that they fold flat, yet there continues to be strange expectation that they fold forward. I simply wanted to add my speculation about the aft folding mechanism to help people understand the possibilities.
As far as the auto vs manual operation of 3rd row folding...There's a simple manual way that you'll see in a base $25k minivan and an automatic way that I'd expect in a $35k minivan. For the 3rd seat to not appear half-baked, they'll need to at least match the functionality for a optioned-up minivan. It's not new technology, they just have to implement it. Much easier said than done, but it's not like the Falcon doors or rotating 2nd row seats.
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Thanks for the info.
Obviously I had not seen that or I would've just said that my bet was that each second row seat just slide forwards or back and are non folding.
adiggs
Well-Known Member
Using kittens to make your argument is grossly unfair to anybody not using kittens.
I think you make a really good point about the 3rd row folding backwards. I had naturally assumed the seat back would fold forward and on top of the seat bottom. But it would make a lot of sense for them to fill in the depression that is below the 3rd row seats/pedestal. Then, with the folded third row it would be level with the pedestal that the third row was once resting on. This may be asking too much of the space available for such mechanics but it would be a very elegant solution. I wonder if it is at all possible to extrapolate the thickness of a seat back on top of the seat bottom and see if that equals the trunk depression up to the top of the pedestal.
This kind of mechanism has been standard, in various forms, in minivans for at least 15 years. There haven't yet been any pictures of the production trunk to note it's size. I think the biggest questions about the 3rd row are 1) What happens to the headrests? and 2) Is the motion manual or automatic?
As a number of people have pointed out it is clear that they have now moved to aft-folding seats that retract into the trunk space. My previous infographic fails to account for that, so here is an updated one showing past configurations and what I presume they will do in the future.
From what I have seen so far I see no reason why the complexity of the seat design would warrant a delay in the vehicle's release so perhaps they have something completely different in store for us.
fengshui
Member
If the signature seats only move forward and backwards, what is the slot on the front of the supports for? Is it just aesthetic?
It could be that the complexity lies in making the seats crash-safe with all of the load of a passenger on the support. The load of an adult passenger on the belt in a crash can be in excess of 2 tons, more if the passenger is high mass, the vehicle is traveling fast, or both. The belts are integrated into the seats, so all that load has to be held by the seat support alone.
I think the slot allows you to tilt the seat as you would tilt the front seat when getting into a 2 door car. This would allow you to tilt the 2nd row seat to access the 3rd row. The second row seats would also be able to move forwards and backwards to adjust leg room for both rows.
No way, I don't believe in the aft-folding seats theory.
(a) the nice ventilated leather would get damaged and (or what J1mbo wrote)
(b) the design studio images seem to show a pivot point in between the 3rd row seats that would pivot forward, not backward.
fengshui
Member
I could see that. It would also simplify the connection on the seat section.
I will be interested to see what we discover on the 29th!
Neither of these are a problem for the type of system I imagine. Please view the Odyssey's method here:
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Aft folding THIRD row seats.
The seats first fold forward along the pivot point you noted in the photo. They then pull back and into the recess in the trunk as seen in the photo below. If you look closely you can see the mechanism and interpret it moves the seat into the recess.
Like this:
This does not expose the leather to damage, it creates more storage space and a flatter cargo space, and it explains not only the pivot point seen in the renders but also the mechanism in the photo above.
I agree that the second row seats do not fold aft but appear to slide forward and backwards and perhaps tilt.
The prototype seats definitely folded back like that red minivan gif, but we now need to account for the production headrests that pultrude. In addition, the seat backs are not completely squared off so they would allow an opening in the cargo area for things to get stuck in or fall into. Instead, I'm guessing they rotate back like in the Odyssey and Grand Caravan.
fengshui--the groove in the front of the 2nd row pedestals is for the outward rotation strut (my guess).
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roow110--Thanks for taking the time to update your graphic. This is it. The scale is off slightly but closer than any others made to date. But again, conceptually this is what's going to happen. (+2nd row rotate outward :smile: and those Sig seats will be an upgrade option for wide release)
fengshui--the groove in the front of the 2nd row pedestals is for the outward rotation strut (my guess).
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roow110--Thanks for taking the time to update your graphic. This is it. The scale is off slightly but closer than any others made to date. But again, conceptually this is what's going to happen. (+2nd row rotate outward :smile: and those Sig seats will be an upgrade option for wide release)
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The idea of having the signature series with seats that were normal seats but simply didn't fold but then having folding seats on the standard production models seems very strange. Even if they had a seat that some people might want for some reason that didn't fold, I see no reason why a large number of signature owners wouldn't be really upset at having a non-folding second row. Is there a single competing SUV/CUV where the second row doesn't fold down? Even if it makes the second row more comfortable, I see that as a niche tradeoff versus cargo hauling (I'd have kids in the back seat in a booster anyway, so I don't think it would make a difference), sort of like the niche executive seat option in the S. What other advantage would there be? If I were a signature reservation holder I'd certainly want to confirm that before finalizing, and if that were really the case the signature reservation would disappear pronto. While all the theories as to what else the second row might do seem sort of far fetched, it seems like there must be something I'm not understanding, because the obvious explanation seems to me to be saying "Guess what, you payed more money for your X, but the normal X's will be a lot more useful."
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