Just about everyone’s sat on a hot, sticky automobile seat. While real or imitation leather looks great, is easy to clean, and is quite comfortable when temperatures or cool, it’s an entirely different story in the summer time.
Semi and other large vehicle drivers need comfortable seats to do their jobs. Spending eight hours or more in a truck seat can be trying, even under the best of conditions. As driver comfort impacts driver efficiency and safety, having a comfortable seat is important to drivers and trucking companies alike.
Here are a few tips for keeping truck seats cool during the summer months:
- Use a windshield shade. When your seats get too hot, it’s usually because your truck has been parked outside where the sun can shine down on your seats through the windshield for hours. A windshield shade can block sunlight from entering the cab, keeping the temperature lower.
- Buy ventilated seats. Ventilated seats are a lifesaver for many long-haul truckers. Seat ventilation is a built-in feature for some seats that directs air through the seat. It keeps the seats cool and drivers comfortable on long trips. Ventilated seats have several small fans built into the cushion and backrest. These fans pull in air from inside the cabin and push it through plastic ducts and air permeable fabric in the seat.
- Ventilated seats reduce the temperature of the seat and can also reduce sweating and eliminate moisture between the driver’s body and the seat.
- Consider cloth seats. Cloth seats tend to dissipate heat better than leather and vinyl seats. For an inexpensive solution to the problem of hot seats in the summer, cloth is the answer.
- Purchase lighter colored seats. Dark colors absorb heat, while lighter colors reflect it. When purchasing seats for your truck, keep this in mind and stick to the lighter tones.
- Garage your truck. If possible, park your truck in a garage or a carport, or under shade. Keeping your truck from spending long hours outside in the hot sun will help to keep the cabin cooler.
Suburban Seating & Safety provides the trucking industry with custom truck seats, trucking accessories, and other gear truckers need for safe and comfortable trips. Take a look at Suburban Seating & Safety’s wide-ranging product line and find the ideal seat for your truck today.
