I only recently learned of a thing called Zero Gravity seating, evidently available on some Nissan vehicles. I would like to know more about this, so I am consulting my favorite group of automotive experts here.
As I understand it, these seats are super-comfortable on long trips. Which is a pretty important aspect of a car or truck, for me. I learned that they were first offered on the Altima in 2013, and later on other Nissan car and truck models, but beyond that I have only questions. Are they standard on some models, or optional at extra cost? Which models? Are they really as comfortable as Nissan would like us to believe? Is there an easy way to identify if a particular used Nissan would have the good seats? Do they hold up over the years? Does anyone here swear by them? Swear at them? Has anyone tried swapping a set into some other vehicle that came with lousy seats?
Thank you in advance for your help!
Saw that your thread's still here unanswered...I don't have any experience with these but from what I can find they have carefully optimized stiffness levels in different parts of the seat to reduce driver fatigue. There's no obvious way to identify them visually and I can't even find if there are any small markings on the seat to look out for. They seem to be getting pretty good reviews in terms of comfort. I found a list of cars available with them here:
https://www.kbb.com/car-advice/vehicles-list-zero-gravity-seats/
NASA scientists researched ergonomics for astronauts who spent days strapped into their seats during the Gemini and Apollo programs. They arrived at the concept of the “neutral posture,” or the position that most alleviates fatigue when sitting for extended periods. It’s the posture that puts the least pressure on our joints.
Nissan ran with it. The company’s zero gravity seats utilize 14 pressure points to keep the body as close to neutral posture as possible while driving.
Yay marketing jargon!
The NASA study results are easily found, and I can guarantee you their seats keep you nowhere near this position
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutral_body_posture
Thanks for the info, guys. Today I have learned a little more about posture, seating, and also that there is a new Nissan Ariya electric SUV.
I think you can get pretty close, but strapping them in and keeping them from sliding onto the floor could be a bit challenging.
Of course, it doesn't look that different from a typical car seat other then the seat bottom angle.
