When there's enough demand for these...

[Earthworm]

...you know there's a serious problem:

News Link

Ouch! But then again, I did read somewhere that North American car makers are making their seats wider to accommodate the wider girths of today's typical drivers. Also planning to change the way the steering wheel can be adjusted to make room for those big tummies.

[NikFu S.]

Isn't that why we have choppers?

The are just making the roads a more dangerous place. It's hard enough for normal ambulances to squeeze through traffic.

[DreamingOfSpeed]

Originally Posted by Bipa

Ouch! But then again, I did read somewhere that North American car makers are making their seats wider to accommodate the wider girths of today's typical drivers. Also planning to change the way the steering wheel can be adjusted to make room for those big tummies.

I must be abnormal. I wish my svx was a tad less wide thru the hips and a lot less wide around the sides. I slip and slide all over the place in my seat (yes even in the seat belt)

TLC had a show called the 750 pound man that shows him being moved by ambulance its the only scene i could stand to see before changing the channel. It was way to gross to actually watch much of and he reminded me so much of my boyfriend's roommate (except tom is like half the size but just as gross to look at or to smell.)

Carmakers widen seats for wider ... seats
By Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY
Posted 12/27/2005 11:32 PM

If you gorged at the holiday buffet, don't worry: You'll still fit in your car.

As Americans grow heftier, automakers are making seats wider, adding more space to interiors and using bigger virtual mannequins to help design vehicles.

Domestic automakers say they already had seats for increasingly rotund motorists. Now foreign brands are catching up.

Getting bigger:

•Honda. The 2006 Civic offers front seats that are three-quarters of an inch wider than those in the 2005 model. Purpose: "To meet the growing needs of our customers," spokesman Sage Marie says.

•Mercedes-Benz. The big R-Class Grand Sports Tourer, which went on sale at the end of September, has front seats about a half-inch wider than the smaller Mercedes M-Class crossover.

•Subaru. The first-ever B9 Tribeca, a crossover vehicle introduced this year that was specifically designed for the U.S. market, has front seats a half-inch wider than those in the Legacy, the next-largest wagon in the lineup.

•Mitsubishi. The Lancer Evolution was given front seats slightly wider than in the Japanese version when the performance car was introduced in the USA in 2003.

Extra-wide seats are important now that 62% of adults are considered overweight or obese, according to market research firm NPD Group. The figure has doubled since the late 1970s.

For the auto industry, the solution is not just about hippy seats. It's also wider cars.

Toyota added a half-inch of width to the RAV4 sport utility and up to 3 inches to the 4Runner, Sienna, Tacoma and Avalon. The goal was both comfort and extra interior space to help protect passengers in side-impact crashes, according to Toyota's Paul Williamsen.

For its part, Ford Motor recently started using what it believes are the industry's first set of virtual mannequins depicting nine different body types — including a hulking man — in computer-aided design. Reason: a finding that the average near-biggest man grew 27 pounds heavier and nearly an inch-and-a-half wider in the hips from 1962 to 2000.

"For the first time, we've made these virtual dummies to reflect people's growing sizes," Ford spokeswoman Jennifer Flake says.

Ford is also paying attention to comfort of the seats themselves. The automaker is researching whether to install power massage units in the backs and cushions of its seats.

It's also considering inflatable bladders in the seats to make them fit passengers of different sizes.

"When you think about how much time people sit in a seat — the average time commuting has gone up dramatically — it's staggering," says Susan Dehne, the automaker's chief engineer of seat systems.

[Electrophil]

Too many buffets out here, and those $2.99 Steak breakfast specials everywhere.

Needless to say, we have a BUNCH of really good heart surgeons who have moved here. It's like a CABG buffet out here for those guys.

On topic, I wonder if that article is legit.

Originally Posted by Electrophil

Too many buffets out here, and those $2.99 Steak breakfast specials everywhere.

Needless to say, we have a BUNCH of really good heart surgeons who have moved here. It's like a CABG buffet out here for those guys.

On topic, I wonder if that article is legit.

Here's another article you may find interesting

Thrill rides cater for the obese

Jo Revill, health editor
Sunday July 24, 2005
The Observer
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_ne...535042,00.html

It is a sign of the times: even roller-coasters are to make allowances for children's bulging waists. The first theme park ride with outsized seats - and special seatbelts - are to open this week.
The 'big boy' seats will mean that no one, however hefty, will be excluded from a new £3 million ride in Staffordshire. Or, as its German makers put it plainly in the promotional literature: 'This seat has been developed to suit the needs of corpulent riders.'

The roller-coaster - called G Force - at Drayton Manor theme park, near Tamworth, does away with traditional shoulder restraints and pins people in their seats at the hip, leaving the rest of the body dangling free. But to maximise its use the designers had to make allowances for the fact that more than half the British population is now overweight or obese.

The ride will feature one larger seat with a wider locking mechanism at the back of a six-seater train. G Force spins its riders around under a gravitational force of 4.3 at speeds of more than 40mph.

Andy Hine, chairman of the Roller-coaster Club of Great Britain, said: 'I have a lot of members who are larger and get very upset when they get to a park and queue for two hours and are told they can't get on a ride.

'The designers are doing the right thing. I've seen the embarrassment when people who are not necessarily large, not obese, can't do the seat-belt up. The size of people is getting bigger, and at last someone is addressing that. These are the first special big-boy seats in the world.'

A special seat for the heftier man or woman is probably less humiliating than what happens in American theme parks, where would-be riders sit in a sample chair and try to lock the restraints. If they don't fit, the people are turned away.

The basic problem is that children and adults on both sides of the Atlantic are getting much larger. Planes have started to offer wider seats to some passengers, and in America some restaurants are installing much larger seats after finding that customers wouldn't come back if they found the chairs too narrow. Helen O'Neill, the Drayton Manor spokeswoman, said: 'We are having to design bigger seating for bigger people. We appear to be going the same way as America.'

But the term 'big boy' seat was not ideal. 'We will have to come up with a more acceptable term. Maybe "the fuller figure" is better.'

[DreamingOfSpeed]

Again, i'm abnormal. I got told i couldnt ride the rollar coaster a few summers ago b/c the harness system didnt lock down tight enough on me. I could slip to the side. I guess i shouldnt even bother getting on a German roller coaster.

Its seems like a bad idea to me to make it easier for 'larger' people to do things. It makes it seem more ok to be large and that they arent *that* large. If the world stayed small perhaps ppl would be more driven to lose weight.

[Electrophil]

It's kinda funny that back in the late 60's they were saying that people at the turn of the century will have smaller bodies and fatter heads.

I guess they were half right....

[DreamingOfSpeed]

How did they figure out that ppl would have bigger heads?

[It's Just Eric]

Who knows. But I agree with you. I mean, there are soe cases where people have thyroid problems or w/e and cant help their weight no matter how hard they excercise.....But lets face it, most Amerians are just smarter sloths. You would think with all the ealth concious stuff there is, less people would be overweightOBESITY!

You know what kills me inside?Im not even going to be nice about this one...Ill be as Un-politically correct as possible...But about 70% of the kids I see are complete fatasses. I mean seriously, their parents will feed them lard if they ask for it. I think that fast food and lazy parents are to blame. Parents really need to step up to the plate and tell their kids they are spoiled peices of ....child.. rather than giving them what they want so they dont have to hear them cry.Waaaambulance!

As for seat widths....I guess from a sales point of view, wider is better...but then you lose the skinny people market. they should have it as either an option or make the seats adjustable.
Or hell, even make bench seats again. bench seats are like...Instead of being designed to fit your needs, you make yourself comfortable. Yeah..thats what they gotta do
[/rant]