Rise, recline, recall - Seats with memory adjust to individual settings

Sheldon Wiliams, Gleaner Writer

Some vehicle manufacturers have placed greater emphasis on seating comfort with the introduction of the memory seat (or seats with memory) function. Branded as multicontour seat packages by some, the technology allows a driver to save a seating position and recall it if it is subsequently adjusted.

ATL Automotives (Audi, Jaguar, and Volkswagen) and Silver Star Motors (Mercedes-Benz) are two local dealerships which offer models equipped with the feature, standard or optional.

Silver Star Motors offers the E- Class Mercedes-Benz line, among others, that boasts seat memory function. The active multicontour seat package is optional, though. It offers driving in comfort and lateral support. Air chambers and bolsters on the side of the seats adjust with dynamism to fit desired driving conditions. Comfort is emphasised by a seven-zone dynamic massage function.

Etus Collman, brand manger at Audi, said "it is available on all Audi models, but it is standard on A6, A7, A8 and R8 models".

The Audi A8 is equipped with an advanced seating system, providing occupants with optimum comfort and safety. It includes 18-way adjustable front seats which are also heated as standard, with heat optional for the rear seats. Ventilated front seats, also with memory features, are also available.

Available front seat massage options offered are the wave, knocking, stretch and shoulder choices. Seat positions can be memorised for the driver, front passenger and rear seats by accessing a button on the key fob and memory buttons on the driver, front passenger and rear doors.

The seating positions are automatically stored each time the vehicle is closed and recalled whenever it is unlocked. Two seating profiles can be stored for each of the front seats and one for each rear seat.

David Hastings, Range Rover brand manager, said the feature is optional on the Range Rover, Land Rover and Jaguar. "For my vehicles, it comes with multiple settings. You have three settings. In other words, three persons can go in the vehicle of different height, size and build and set the memory position for themselves," he explained.

"I can jump in the vehicle and set it to my ergonomics and then I can hit memory one position and it stays that way for me. My wife gets in it and she can set it up for herself, because she is shorter than me," he continued.

Hastings explained that the likelihood of malfunction is low. "A seat is really not something that you move up and down constantly, so the chances of failing are rare," he affirmed. Collman said the likelihood of failure is "minimal to no chance at all".