School Bus Fleet, March 2017

40 SCHOOL BUS FLEET MARCH 2017 WWW SCHOOLBUSFLEET COM In addition to safety and durability driver seats offer various options for height and comfort By Nancy Kirk Editorial Assistant School Bus Driver Seats Adjust to a Variety of Needs DRIVER SEATS Photo courtesy National Highway Traffic Safety Administration The comfort and quality of a school bus driver seat is essential to the success of drivers and students alike The seats features must be extremely safe as well as adjust to the diverse needs of individual drivers Commercial Vehicle Group CVG is one company that understands this says Bud Prenatt the companys product marketing manager Once youre in that seat youre often there until the job is done so we utilize feedback to ensure the highest level of comfort durability safety and adjustability Prenatt says Drivers are essentially living in their seat Dealers like to have options customers can add Prenatt says so CVG offers a basic seat with options such as arm rests and seat heaters Additionally the requirements for school bus driver seats vary from place to place so its important to offer an adaptable seat that can conform to different mandates and specifications For example armrest requirements are not consistent from OEM to OEM Some bus manufacturers require that there is no left armrest because there is an interference with the console so we offer all of these options to meet the specific needs of the industry Prenatt explains Height adjustment One of the most important features of school bus driver seats is independent height adjustment The school bus industry is composed of 64 female drivers and 36 male drivers compared to the truck industry which is 94 male according to Seats Inc Sales Manager Josh Justman That means there is a wide range in drivers heights We provide a product with independent height adjustment so it can fit someone in the 5 foot range all the way to the 6 foot 7 inch range and provide maximum comfort for those different heights Justman says Height adjustment is important because drivers need to be able to securely reach the pedal CVG works to ensure the safety of drivers by increasing their track travel from 7 inches to almost 9 inches in some models to allow the seat to move 2 inches closer to the pedal We improved the length of the track because were listening to the voice of the customer to identify what the problems are in the industry Prenatt says Were developing our aftermarket seats that are available as a direct to dealer purchase to help resolve any issues Suspension Seats Inc offers two suspension seats the Magnum 100 air suspension and the Magnum 200 mechanical suspension Both of these seats are designed to significantly reduce the vertical movement that can occur when maneuvering a large vehicle Justman says Instead of the whole seat bouncing up and down our knee action style suspension seats pivot in the front so only the back of the seat actually moves he explains The drivers feet maintain control of