ROME – Faithful to the philosophy “Democratize top technologies and make them accessible to all”, since its inception Opel has always tried to offer maximum comfort to the driver and passengers. (The Patentmotorwagen of 1899, just to give an example, was already fitted with leather seats) A principle applied, for example, to seats which are entrusted with the important task of representing the interface between man and car.
In fact, at Opel, the engineers dedicate about three years of their work to the complete development of a seat. Once the seat has been designed, the test phase begins, where the experts test all possible conditions, from long journeys on the motorway to bad roads.
In addition, the seats must comply with statutory safety requirements and when the side airbags are deployed, the seat fabric or seat cover must unfold properly and must not be deformed in the event of an accident. In 1929, the seat of the Opel 4/20 “Moonlight Roadster” was still rigid and fixed, but was placed lower allowing passengers to extend their legs.
The next step came shortly after, with the Opel 1.8 Liters whose front seats could be adjusted in the longitudinal direction. We then move on to the early fifties of the last century, when the seats of the Olympia were fixed to a metal frame and could be adjusted in the longitudinal direction and to facilitate the entry of rear passengers, the backrests could be reclined forward.
In 1956, with the Kapitän L we witness a further step forward in the comfort of seats with fully adjustable backrests by simply pulling a lever. With the 1968 Opel GT came seats with a sporty profile, while as an option the house began to introduce headrests on the Kadett B, Rekord C, Commodore A and Olympia A and in 1978 Monza A and Senator A were equipped with adjustable seats also in height. And then again, in the nineties on the Omega B, as an option, electrically adjustable seats could be requested.
Another important novelty in 1999 on the Zafira minivan with the introduction of the Flex7 seating system which allowed all the seats to be folded down with a few steps, obtaining a large flat floor without having to remove the seats. In 2002, on the Vectra / Signum, shaped seats and electrically adjustable in 18 directions made their appearance, able to properly support the back, sporting the Agr brand, thanks to the certification obtained by the ergonomics experts of the independent German association.
Subsequently, in 2012, the compact minivan Meriva received the Agr quality seal for general ergonomics (FlexDoors doors with an opening angle of 84 degrees, FlexSpace system, ergonomic seats and FlexFix bike racks). Today, however, the further evolution of these award-winning ergonomic seats is available on the Astra, Crossland, Insignia and Grandland models. (mr)