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-   -   What if the rear seats face backwards? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/electric-cars/288568-what-if-rear-seats-face-backwards.html)

Crazy idea and many would not like it but want to know the merits/demerits of it.

I believe (not sure) but it can make for some interesting design

1. I think better space utilisation is possible with better rear seat leg space and/or boot space.

2. It solves the head room problem particularly for coupe suvs that is in rage these days.

3. A family car might not like this because of the disconnect between the front and back seats but for taxis it might be a boon.

4. If one has a full sized windshield it would make the view to the outside world better (for the rear passengers)

5. I think it would be slightly better design for safety of the back seat passenger.

I put this in the EV thread because lately we have been seeing cars (Curvv/BE6e etc) where I can do with better rear seat ergonomics. Also head room and leg space has been a problem in EVs in general due to the battery pack.

It is a Commonplace design on the iconic London Taxi for years and years.

Also, in the EU region Ive sat in Mercedes Viano/ V Class vans with this configuration.

Same with some Toyota HiAces in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia and Africa.

All of these were tourist vehicles and meant to take families around in comfort and some were configured for Safari use.

Im not sure about the Toyota Alphard and Hiace, they are certainly supremely comfortable but I dont think they have a rear facing seating configuration.

However, with the newer safety norms and all I dont think normal private passenger vehicles will be allowed to have this.

I feel nauseous seating that way. Also staring and back staring by the occupants of the trailing vehicle is something many would not look forward to.

I was actually wondering the same thing after seeing recent Ioniq 9 swivel seats configuration. Not sure about coupe SUVs but 3rd rows in smaller MPVs and Crossovers will become better for sure.



If you see the rear facing configuration on Ioniq 9, the 3rd row has more legroom with middle row backwards.



One more thing I see advantageous for using this configuration for 2nd row on 3 row SUVs and MPVs is ability to just stretch legs on the second row while sitting in the third like on the side berth in 3AC

I see people will get motion sickness. I had a chance of travelling some 90 KMS in the Railway guard coach which has a window facing backwards. Whenever you start looking at the window it was nauseating and had a severe headache later due to the view change.

Maruti omni had an option to have backward facing seats for mid row. Though the leg room is improved, it is not as comfortable as front facing seats in terms of motion sickness.

Some of us older folks remember taking a ride on horse carts (tanga), and they always had rear facing passenger seats.

Rest of you may remember seeing it in the movie Sholey... :)

I see 2 issues.

1) This triangle area between the seats cannot be used.


2) For a 2 row car like BE6E the luggage may fly and hit the passengers in case of an accident. You need to put a very secured shield for the luggage compartment.

Maybe something like Rivian's Gear Tunnel from the R1T?



Agreed, its a huge risk on vehicles with 2 row seating, may be more sensible for cars with 3 rows such as MPVs and full size SUVs

I had given this idea a thought quite a few times.

The only 2 row car where a rear facing second row makes sense is the 3 door Thar.

In every other car, the rear doors will need to be very very long and ingress and egress will be extremely difficult.

Why not make the frunk the bigger of the lot and nominal trunk. I admit it is a bit crazy but now that we are here might as well go along this direction.

We had a Maruti Omni E (8-seater) variant which had the mid row facing rearward.

Nobody was keen on sitting there unless it was an absolutely needed.

It was particularly disturbing during night times as the glare from headlights of the vehicle following our car used to hit the passengers sitting on the rear facing seats.

Not a fan of them ever since.

Dint the erstwhile Maruti Omni have it for some configurations. I remember feely uncomfortable sitting on them. It was more comfortable sitting in the front facing back seats which was all the way in the back and quiet bouncy on bad roads, then sit the other way round.

The Japanese Shinkansens' have rotating seats that allow them to rotate the seats in the direction the train is moving. I guess they did enough research to warrant such a configuration instead of setting up half the rows in the opposite directions like we have in our Shatabdis'.

With sudden hard braking, people are going to injure their necks/heads

This is a common seating style in many of the vans around the world. Like few already pointed out above, this is perfect for MPVs with 3 row seating (since MPVs are basically vans in a different shape) and not at all suitable for vehicles with 2 row seating.

More than the safety concern, I feel the problem is going to be few people being uncomfortable sitting looking at backwards. That means the manufacturer will have to make the seating flexible. The user should be able to turn the seat backwards or towards the front based on the need. But that means it will increase the cost and then we are baack to where we are today. That is, only luxury vans and MPVs can have this.