Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2021 May 12

Welcome to the Wikipedia Miscellaneous Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

May 12

Tesla model 3

[1] It's a smallish car, right? And its interior is pretty normal for a car of that size? How can the back seat be more comfortable than the front? I'm used to back seats in small cars being cramped, and they're only more comfortable than the front in luxo-barge type cars driven by chauffeurs. Also, how the heck do you move from the front seat to the back while the car is moving? I used to climb over the seat as a little kid, but I think it's not really possible in most cars for a grown person to do it. (And I note the irony of the guy claiming to be a big shot, while driving the economy Tesla model as it were). Thanks. 2601:648:8200:970:0:0:0:B6C3 (talk) 19:21, 12 May 2021 (UTC)

In the article linked to, the occupant of the car is only reported to have said they felt safer in the back seat, not "more comfortable".  --Lambiam 00:35, 13 May 2021 (UTC)

According to Tesla Model 3, it's a mid-size sedan. As a fairly typical American car, it doesn't really look that small. Also a quick look at the interior from searches e.g. [2] show it's a fairly typical car with a gap between the two front seats. I don't know if this is one of those weird American things or what. (I recently heard it's common for parents to tell their children not to turn on the interior lights because it's illegal, rather than simply because it's distracting and can make it harder to see the road.) But whether an adult or a child, I don't recall ever having moved from the front or back or vice versa by going over the seats. (I may in an Land Cruiser FWD/SUV while moving from the middle passengers seats to those at the far back because there was no gap, although you could put the seat down.) Instead I've only ever gone between the seats as the seemingly most logical way. I guess if you're super fat or super tall it might be fairly difficult or if the gap is very small, but I can confirm as an adult I can still move between the front and back in a Hyundai Getz which I'm fairly sure is smaller than Tesla Model 3, and I think other cars I can't recall the name of, so I suspect I could in a Tesla Model 3 as well. (There's a chance I've done it in an old Daihatsu Mira, but I'm not sure.) I wouldn't try doing so when the car is moving, no matter who is driving it, but the car moving wouldn't seem to make it that much more difficult, just very dangerous. Nil Einne (talk) 12:30, 13 May 2021 (UTC)

I should clarify that when doing so as an adult, it's very likely your head and part of your body will probably technically be going over the seats. However the gap means you're not really climbing over the seats, instead aa I said, mostly going between them. I mean I suspect I could climb over the seats especially if the headrest is all the way down or even removed if that's possible. I may have actually done it to enter the boot in the Hyundai Getz, I can't recall for sure. It just doesn't seem a very effective way to move from the front to the back when there's the gap. Nil Einne (talk) 12:48, 13 May 2021 (UTC)

Some of the cars my parents drove when I was a kid in the '70s and '80s didn't really have a gap. --Khajidha (talk) 13:44, 13 May 2021 (UTC)

Bench seats went out of style by the 1990s. I can't recall any car produced since 1990 that had them in the front but most cars by the 1990s had front bucket seats. Bench seats still exist in the rears of cars, though often the two outer areas of the bench are contoured to resemble bucket seats; things like minivans and SUVs with three rows of seating will typically only have a bench seat in the third row, and some have all bucket seats. But front row bench seating just isn't a think anymore. --Jayron32 14:11, 13 May 2021 (UTC)

As noted in that article, very few models had bench seats by the 2010s. The bench seat was phased out for a variety of reasons, including safety. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 14:37, 13 May 2021 (UTC)

The above articles suggest the 2011 Lincoln Town Car and maybe Ford Crown Victoria and Mercury Grand Marquis had a front bench seat at standard and 2013 Chevrolet Impala as an option so it does seem there were a small number after 1990 but yeah it wasn't very common. Anyway one of the reasons I looked into the Model 3 interior was to ensure that there was nothing like this which may prevent it. The images above maybe aren't so great but this video/screen cap [3] even if it's a somewhat atypical variant shows the gap is probably larger than in the Getz. If the OP only ever had front bench seat cars as a child, this would explain why they always went over the seats, but I still would have thought once they became familiar with cars with a gap between the front seats it would be the way they'd think to try and move between even if not something they ever actually tried. Also I belatedly realised I neglected to acknowledge that someone with limited mobility or who was frail would likely have great difficulty moving between the front and the back. (E.g. thinking of my elderly relatives.) Also I maybe oversimplified, if the car was undergoing acceleration/deceleration including turning rather than at a constant velocity while moving this would make it more difficult to try. Nil Einne (talk) 16:08, 13 May 2021 (UTC)

Also having looked into the 2011 Lincoln Town Car, it seems even for that the "bench seat" is actually adaptable [4] [5]. Nil Einne (talk) 16:33, 13 May 2021 (UTC)

If the original poster grew up with bench seats, they may still characterize going through the gap as "over the seats" and not think there is enough room for the average adult to do it.--Khajidha (talk) 19:56, 13 May 2021 (UTC)

Yeah my parents' cars when I was little had bench front seats. Memory is hazy but I'm pretty sure, and they were pre-1990s cars, big Detroit tankers by today's standards. I definitely was able to climb over the seat rather easily (and didn't understand why my parents didn't do the same thing), but I mean this was when I was toddler sized, not schoolkid sized. I didn't even realize bench front seats had been phased out since then. I thought they were just what bigger cars use, and that bucket seats were sporty or pseudo-sporty styling. My own car has bucket front seats but it is a small car. Do you mean if you buy a luxo car or limo, say a Rolls Royce, the current models will have bucket seats in the front? Ok, I guess I believe you, but it just seems incongruous. (As you might guess, I haven't spent any time riding around in cars like that). Thanks. 2601:648:8200:970:0:0:0:B6C3 (talk) 00:19, 15 May 2021 (UTC)

• In a Tesla a friend gave me a lift in once (dunno model) the very distinctive thing about the back seats was the total lack of a centre hump for the transmission. You had an entirely clear floor. Blythwood (talk) 07:27, 15 May 2021 (UTC)

A feature of all front-wheel drive cars. I haven't had a rear-wheel drive car for decades (I thought they were extinct). Alansplodge (talk) 14:11, 16 May 2021 (UTC)

Both our cars are RWD: Sierra Cosworth (transmission tunnel) and BMW i3 (no tunnel).--Phil Holmes (talk) 14:43, 16 May 2021 (UTC)

The Ford Sierra was my last RWD car, the Ford Mondeo which replaced it in 1993 was front. Alansplodge (talk) 13:46, 18 May 2021 (UTC)