TTAC Investigates Thermal Butt Management

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

In our ongoing campaign to put TTAC at the forefront of automotive journalism, we've decided to go behind the headlines, to provide the kind of insight and perspective that you can't get elsewhere, if only because no one else could be bothered. That's because we know many of our Best and Brightest are just as geeky and OCD as we are. More charitably, what miserly or environmentally conscious pistonhead wouldn't want to know about thermal seat management? After all, as the DOE discovered, if you use less AC, you save mpgs! In any case, here's my interview with Dan Coker, President and CEO of Amerigon, the world's premier supplier of heated and cooled seat technology. For those of you who aren't podcast-compatible, the bottom line: the cool-your-butt business is booming. Amerigon's up to $75m turnover this year. It's an American success story, human ingenuity at its finest, coming to a Sealy Posturpedic near you soon.

Robert Farago
Robert Farago

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  • Rix Rix on Aug 07, 2008

    For durability, leather wins hides down. I am very pleased with the leather seats in my WRX- I had them done by an aftermarket place for about $500 and they are excellent.

  • Gustavo Gustavo on Aug 08, 2008

    mmdpg -- this isn't a "ventilated" system. it actually cools the air using a thermolectric. they talk about it in the interview. the picture above also shows this.

  • Houston67 Houston67 on Aug 08, 2008

    My 2008 Mazda 3 Hatchback has heated cloth seats. For some reason they're standard on the Canadian GT model, yet unavailable in the US. I use them almost year round. I love them.

  • Ralph SS Ralph SS on Aug 08, 2008

    Oh, trust me....my seats are always ventilated.

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