GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.—March 3, 2010—American Seating’s transportation products recently received prestigious design awards. The company’s InSight® product line received the 2010 iF (International Forum) product design award and the 2010 Red Dot design award, and the company’s Vision™ product received the 2009 Good Design award in the Transportation category. Both awards are for advanced design and industrial achievements.

AWARDS: iF and Red Dot– for InSight The iF and Red Dot awards are two of the most prestigious design awards – they stand for outstanding quality in design and is sought by well-known companies such Audi, Apple and Dell.
InSight was one of 778 products to receive the iF award among 2,486 entries from 39 different countries.
The product line was designed, engineered and tested by American Seating in close collaboration with key public transportation stakeholders throughout North America, including transit authorities, OEM builders, advocacy groups, industry associations and riders.
Based on research, InSight was designed to meet the following needs:
• Style. Research showed that style and design are particularly important to the riding public and to enhance the vehicle’s interior. InSight establishes a new standard in style, with a slim-line, one-piece sculpted seat module, and the product line has been extended to include a high back and fabric back model for enhanced aesthetics. The seat creates a business-class look that riders appreciate.
• Comfort. InSight features the largest personal sitting area (it was the first American Seating product to offer a personal sitting area at 18 inches wide), more legroom, a back extension, padded seat and back cushions, increased standing-aisle hip space and a seat module made of energy-absorbing material.
• Vandalism, maintenance, cleaning, installation. InSight offers hard-wearing, advanced-technology composite resin, corrosion-resistant materials and no exposed fasteners. Exclusive vandal- and cut-resistant cushions are also available, along with stainless-steel back panels. The modular design and patent-pending lightweight mounting system supports easy installation and part replacement.

Transit authorities across the U.S. and Canada, such as San Diego, Chicago, Cleveland, Washington, D.C., Grand Rapids, Mich., and Victoria, British Columbia, have installed InSight in city service vehicles. Vancouver is the first to install InSight in its rail system – seats were installed in preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

“The adoption of InSight across North America has been overwhelming. It really speaks to how well this seat has addressed our customers’ needs,” said Gary Thompson, transportation market manager, American Seating.

Other winners of the 2010 iF award include BMW, Sony, Apple and Porsche.

Winners of the Red Dot Design Award include the iPad and Mercedes Benz to name a few.

AWARD: Good Design – for Vision The Good Design award, the oldest and most recognized program for design excellence worldwide, recognizes designs that enhance people’s everyday lives and promote industrial/economic growth. American Seating’s Vision, a stainless steel city-service bus and rail seat, was selected from 3,000 submissions after being reviewed by a panel of 70 design judges, receiving the 2009 Good Design award in the Transportation category.

“We feel people should always be exposed to good design. Providing a clean, comfortable and contemporary environment invites passengers to leave their cars at home and ride the bus or train,” said Michelle Marek, senior transportation product specialist at American Seating.

The company researched what it would take to get customers out of their personal vehicles, and Vision is at the core of their response: “What really sets this seat apart is the ergonomics and modular functionality; it possesses qualities not currently addressed with other stainless seats on the market,” Marek said.

Vision’s contoured seat offers the largest individual sitting area (Vision and InSight are both the largest in the industry), and the slim-line profile provides increased hip-to-knee room, allowing passengers to enter and exit with ease. Aesthetically, it’s a clean design – there are no visible welds or hardware, which adds to the durability of the seat, and it’s easy to clean and maintain – scratches and graffiti can be easily buffed away, and what cannot be polished can easily be replaced onsite without grounding the vehicle for maintenance.

“Vision stands up to extreme environments, it’s ergonomically designed and is for all types of passengers and needs,” Marek said.

2009 was a record year for submissions. Other winners in the transportation category include Bombardier, Siemens and Daimler’s Merecedes Benz products. Winners from other categories range from a Mars Landing Rover designed for a NASA Mars Space Mission to a simple water purification system for rural South African villages.

Vision will be on display in Chicago this summer 2010 with other Good Design winners.

Since 1886, American Seating Company has set the benchmark for product design, durability and comfort. We are committed to being a leader in transportation seating, including city service, rail, motorcoach and demand-response markets. American Seating is a contributing author of White Book standards, the industry guidelines for best practices. American Seating also serves as a leader in architectural and office environments. Headquartered in Grand Rapids, Mich., USA, American Seating employs a US-based workforce.

Leslie joins the company with extensive experience in positions of increased responsibility with Ernst and Young, Herman Miller, National Heritage Academies and Knape & Vogt, where she served as Chief Financial Officer.

Leslie will oversee the financial activities of the Company, in addition to assuming the responsibility for the Information Technology, Pricing and Sourcing functions.

American Seating and SafeGuard, two industry leaders, have joined forces to offer a belted seat that revolutionizes motorcoach safety. Together, they offer unsurpassed industry expertise and a patented exclusive belted seat offering that provides protection for the entire family, the only seat that protects both belted and unbelted passengers.

Click here to learn more about Premier®.

American Seating Company demos their interior configurator, a new, free and interactive tool in which users can specify colors and actual fabrics for seating components, and, with a few mouse clicks, see how these choices will look in a photo-realistic city bus interior. APTA Expo attendees can “go configure” at American Seating’s Booth 918. The tool is planned to officially launch via the American Seating Web site later this fall.

“Users can easily design a custom interior in a virtual environment and get a ‘snapshot view’ before a vehicle is even built or product purchased,” said Gary Thompson, transportation market manager, American Seating.

Built in Flash, the interior of the bus transforms onscreen in seconds with each choice. Users can print designs and selections. Interior Configurator currently features American Seating’s InSight® product line with plans to add additional lines. American Seating has collaborated with leading fabric suppliers to include digital swatches in the tool.

Users can specify the colors and/or fabrics of such components as:

• Seats


• Bus flooring and walls


• Stanchion poles


• Barriers

“The possible color and fabric combinations are endless,” Thompson said. “We first demonstrated it at BusCon in September where we received great feedback from those who tried it. Anyone can use it – it’s that easy.” (The enclosed fact sheet describes how the tool works.)

American Seating created the tool to help its customers more quickly and effectively meet the growing demand for not only more public transportation but also vehicles that reflect a heightened cosmopolitan image.

“The interior configurator can facilitate collaboration, be used to present design concepts and streamline decision-making among a variety of stakeholders involved in the bus design process” Thompson said.

Potential users of the tool include transit authority managers, engineers, procurement and specification specialists, maintenance personnel, marketing and sales teams, design consultants and OEMs.

“The goal is to make our end customers’ seating-product decisions as easy, effective and efficient as possible – and, ultimately, to help them meet their riders’ needs,” Thompson said.

“Public transportation in the U.S. is becoming more important every day. American Seating’s interior configurator tool can help users design more inviting vehicle interiors with a few simple clicks.”

SAN DIEGO – Oct. 5, 2008 – American Seating Company showcases a new mobility aid securement system at the 2008 APTA Expo that provides easier, quicker and safer securement while reducing physical demands on the driver. Passengers using most mobility aids can be secured in less than half the time of manual systems currently on the market.

The system includes American Seating’s patented Advanced Restraint Module (A.R.M.)® and new Dual Auto-Lok™ remote release system. Dual Auto-Lok is produced by Sure-Lok, Inc. exclusively for American Seating.

“The system is an engineered answer to bus drivers, transit agencies and even passengers who have asked for a securement process that eliminates awkward movement and time-consuming procedures,” said Gary Thompson, transportation market manager, American Seating.

The system enhances the safety and security of the passenger using the mobility aid while increasing the efficiency of the bus driver. Dual Auto-Lok is a patent-pending system with a built-in time-delay mechanism that allows free movement of belts for a preset time and both of the bus driver’s hands to be free to secure the mobility aid, minimizing awkward body movements and saving time.

The system is maintenance free and comes fully installed on an American Seating flip-up seat or barrier. The fully enclosed, modular design easily adapts to most vehicles’ layouts for retrofit. The system integrates with all models of public transit passenger seating, including American Seating’s InSight® line.

“Building on the InSight® value platform, Vision provides significant advances in seating comfort, performance and elegance,” said Gary Thompson, transportation market manager, American Seating.

Vision is targeted for mass transit applications, including bus and rail markets.

“We’re building on significant research and feedback from our customers to produce a product that offers unparalleled durability, reliability and comfort,” Thompson said.

Research also showed that customers and riders don’t want to sacrifice style. Because the Vision product line is inspired by InSight, it will be sleek and modern, spacious, and easy to install and maintain. It will offer a slim-line profile with an 18-inch seat width, the largest personal sitting area in the industry. And it will be ADA and White Book compliant, integrating with American Seating’s exclusive mobility aid securement system.

Expo attendees can view the new Vision product at Exhibitor Booth 918.