School Transportation News Magazine | November 2009
Raising SCHOOL BUS
SEATING WILL SOON SEE CHANGES IN SEAT BACK
HEIGHT, BUT SOME COMPANIES ARE
LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE WHEN IT COMES TO SAFE, RELIABLE SEATING By Stephane Babcock
On April 1, 1977, school buses took a
major step forward in becoming one of the safest forms of transportation available to school children. Included in the number of
federal safety standard changes was
the school bus seat, specifically FMVSS 222 and 301. Te new standards called for school bus compartmentalization and burn resistance requirements for material used in the interior of school buses. Last year, NHTSA finalized its rulings on
seat belts and called for an increase in seat back heights. Tis change has had a rip- pling effect that has made its way to the seat manufacturers and the companies that supply them with the materials to create them.
STARTING FROM SCRATCH AND ADDING INCHES Before 1977, school bus seating was pro-
duced with exposed metal frames, or back pans. With the implementation of 222, the back pads were soon produced from high-density rebond foam. Tese foams remained relatively unchanged until the mid 1980s, when fuel economy became very important. “Te best way to improve fuel mileage
is to reduce weight,” said David Murphy, sales manager for Triad Fabco Industries, a foam manufacturer. “Everyone researched ways to reduce weight by any means pos- sible. A few ounces saved per seat would become pounds when multiplied by the number of seats in a bus.” More recently, manufacturers have
changed their focus to heights — 24 inch- es worth, to be exact. NHTSA’s final rule will increase the seatback height 4 inches
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across the board, a requirement compa- nies said they are ready to meet. Although machines must be retooled and material costs may increase, the change is not as complicated as it may seem. “Tere have been few changes in the
seating since 1977. Te concept has re- mained the same — a seat that meets all FMVSS standards was the bottom line for every manufacturer,” said Roger Ashby, vice president of Foam Rubber, LLC. “As for the retooling for the new higher seat coming in October [2010], we have imple- mented the new high back very quickly without any major problems with our production and materials.”
TAKING CUES FROM DETROIT Ron Lamparter has been a fixture in the
school bus industry for the better part of 50 years. Born and raised in Detroit, he is intimately familiar with how the auto in- dustry works. It is that thinking that has taken him to his current position as CEO of Syntec Seating and has pushed him to adapt technology from the automobile world to meet the needs of school buses. “We’re building our seat frames like
the automobile industry,” said Lamparter. “Te M2K seat is produced with all of the automotive technology.” He explained that, instead of using 20 or
30 parts welded together to make a seat frame, the company takes two or three large pieces of steel, stamps them out and attaches them together. Te result is a lighter, less costly seat frame. Te tool utilized for this process was designed with inserts, allowing the workers to neck that seat pan down from 45 inches, to 39 inch-
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