Tall or short, narrow or wide, every driver has a comfortable position. The new driving seat has better cushioning and is more versatile.
It’s the steering wheel that’s the secret. With neck-tilt, a feature that evokes luxury associations, the steering wheel can be tilted, not just raised or lowered as before.
“When your arms drop down a bit the driving improves,” says Peter Johansson, design engineer at Volvo.
Together with raising and lowering functions, the wheel can be angled up to 40 degrees – 10 of these come from the neck-tilt function. A more vertical steering wheel makes the Volvo FH feel similar to a conventional car. This feeling is also helped along by the Independent Front Suspension, a world first in the Volvo FH.
“The Volvo FH is first with neck-tilt. It’s the steering wheel that’s the secret”
TALL DRIVERS IN PARTICULAR will appreciate the increased adjustment area of the driving seat. The seat can slide back further in the new Volvo FH, 4 centimetres to be precise. Altogether the seat can slide up to 24 centimetres in a forwards backwards direction (best in class). The span for raising or lowering the new seat is 10 centimetres.
The seat also has a new shape. Among other things, it has improved lateral support and longer leg support. But this is a tricky area: too little leg support is not good, too much is no good either as it makes it harder to get in and out of the seat.
“The new seat is quite amazing when you realise it’s designed to work for almost every shape and size of driver,” says Peter Johansson.