Third row seating refers to seating in a vehicle such as a station wagon, SUV, MPV, to expand seating beyond the front and back seat found in most automobiles. [1] [2] Such vehicles commonly seat between 6 and up to 9 persons.
In the 1960s and 1970s, station wagons based on automobiles often had rear-facing folding seats which were entered by a 2 or 3-way tailgate. Ford used dual-side facing seats which faced each other. Some such as the Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser had a forward-facing third row, an arrangement also common in SUVs such as the Chevrolet Suburban. Most minivans have 3 rows of seating.
Third row seats may be fixed, removable, or designed to fold into the floor, or against the walls. Some are power operated with a switch.
Minivan is a car classification for vehicles designed to transport passengers in the rear seating row(s), with reconfigurable seats in two or three rows. The equivalent classification in Europe is MPV or M-segment.
A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some variation in the scope of the word across the different English-speaking countries. The smallest vans, microvans, are used for transporting either goods or people in tiny quantities. Mini MPVs, compact MPVs, and MPVs are all small vans usually used for transporting people in small quantities. Larger vans with passenger seats are used for institutional purposes, such as transporting students. Larger vans with only front seats are often used for business purposes, to carry goods and equipment. Specially equipped vans are used by television stations as mobile studios. Postal services and courier companies use large step vans to deliver packages.
A station wagon or estate car is an automotive body-style variant of a sedan with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door, instead of a trunk/boot lid. The body style transforms a standard three-box design into a two-box design—to include an A, B, and C-pillar, as well as a D-pillar. Station wagons can flexibly reconfigure their interior volume via fold-down rear seats to prioritize either passenger or cargo volume.
There are many types of car body styles. They vary depending on intended use, market position, location, and the era they were made.
Plymouth Voyager is a nameplate for a range of vans that were marketed by the Plymouth division of Chrysler. From 1974 until 1983, the Voyager was a full-size van, sold as the counterpart of Dodge Sportsman. Starting with the 1984 model year, the Voyager was marketed as one of the new Chrysler minivan, along with the Dodge Caravan. As a minivan, there were three generations of the Voyager from 1984 until 2000. Following the closure of the Plymouth division in 2000, the Voyager was marketed under the Chrysler brand as a lower-trim version of the Chrysler Town & Country through 2003.
The Buick Rendezvous is a mid-size crossover SUV that was sold by Buick for the 2002–2007 model years. Introduced in the spring of 2001, the Buick Rendezvous and its corporate cousin, the Pontiac Aztek, were GM's first entries into the crossover SUV segment. The Rendezvous featured a four-speed automatic transmission with a V6 engine and optional all-wheel-drive (Versatrak). The SUV used the same platform as GM's short-wheelbase minivans, the Chevrolet Venture and Pontiac Montana. The Rendezvous provided a passenger- and load-carrying capacity not seen in the Buick lineup since the discontinuation of the Buick Roadmaster Estate station wagon in 1996.
The Chrysler Town & Country is a minivan that was manufactured and marketed by Chrysler from 1990 to the 2016 model years. The third Chrysler minivan introduced in North America, the Town & Country adopted its nameplate from the flagship Chrysler station wagon line, adopting its exterior woodgrain trim as a design feature for several generations.
The Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser is an automobile that was manufactured and marketed by Oldsmobile from 1971 until 1992. Marking the return of Oldsmobile to the full-size station wagon segment, the Custom Cruiser was initially slotted above the intermediate Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser, ultimately above the later mid-size Oldsmobile Cutlass Cruiser.
The Chrysler Pacifica is a mid-size crossover produced by Chrysler from 2003 to 2007, for the model years 2004 to 2008.
The Mitsubishi Chariot is an automobile manufactured and marketed by Mitsubishi from 1983 to 2003. It is a small multi-purpose vehicle (MPV). Based on the SSW concept car first exhibited at the 23rd Tokyo Motor Show in 1979, the MPV derives its nameplate from chariots used by the ancient Greek and Roman empires.
The trunk or boot of a car is the vehicle's main storage or cargo compartment, often a hatch at the rear of the vehicle. It can also be called a tailgate.
The Nissan Quest is a minivan manufactured and marketed by Nissan for model years 1993–2017 over four generations.
A bucket seat is a car seat contoured to hold one person, distinct from a flat bench seat designed to fit multiple people. In its simplest form it contours somewhat to the human body, but may have a deep seat and exaggerated sides that partially enclose and support the body in high-performance automobiles.
A bench seat is a full width continuous pad forming the front seat of automobiles. The second row of seating in most sedans is usually a bench. The third row of most SUVs and minivans, which may be forward-facing or rear-facing, is also a bench seat.
Compact MPV is a vehicle size class for the middle size of MPVs. The Compact MPV size class sits between the mini MPV and large MPV (minivan) size classes.
An armrest is a part of a chair, where a person can rest their arms on. Armrests are built into a large variety of chairs such as automotive chairs, armchairs, airline seats, sofas, and more. Adjustable armrests are commonly found in ergonomic office chairs and gaming chairs.
The Ford Freestyle is a crossover utility vehicle that was sold by Ford from 2005 to 2009. Largely marketed as the successor to the Ford Taurus station wagon, the Freestyle was the CUV counterpart of the Ford Five Hundred and Mercury Montego four-door sedans. Sharing the Ford D3 platform with the Five Hundred and Montego, the Freestyle was produced with both front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive configurations and six- or seven-passenger seating.
A car door is a type of door opening, typically hinged on its front edge, but sometimes attached by other mechanisms such as tracks, for entering and exiting a vehicle. Doors most often integrate side windows for visibility from inside the car and can be locked to secure the vehicle.
Louis Rhodes is an American engineer. He was born at the Detroit Osteopathic Hospital in Michigan. He was employed as the director of design engineering at Chrysler LLC, an American automobile manufacturer. He has been in charge of various projects as the ME Four-Twelve, and the Chrysler Group's Minivan Stow ’n Go seating. On September 13, 2007, he was appointed president of ENVI, a division of Chrysler formed to develop electric-drive vehicles.
The Ford Carousel is a prototype vehicle that was developed by Ford in 1973. A derivative of the third-generation Ford Econoline/Club Wagon, the Carousel explored a number of the concepts that 1980s American-market minivans later put into production, serving as an alternative to both full-size station wagons and passenger vans.