Engineer Steven St. Laurent noted a new patent filed by Chrysler, covering an extension of stowable seats. The “Stow ’n’ Go” system in Chrysler and Dodge minivans allows owners to easily fold the middle and rear seats into the floor, providing a completely flat surface for moving large objects (or lots of small ones); when not in use, owners can use the under-floor space for added storage.


Like related Chrysler stowable-seat patents of 2014 , this one focuses on simplicity of construction and usage.

Instead, using fewer parts, the new seats can apparently be folded forward and down into the floor. In addition, they provide unobstructed space between the bottom of the seat and the floor, for other passengers’ feet and whatnot. (The patent actually provides for more than one arrangement using pivotable couplings.)

Mr. St. Laurent wrote,
Chrysler is seeking to have rear and middle seats in new-generation trucks and SUVs fold completely into the floors — a flat surface vs a 5-10° incline when folding middle or rear seats (e.g. in Durango).  Anything behind the driver seat will be a flat surface.

It is now simpler to drop the seat and align it to the floor tub, without much effort. On this one, the seat back will be the surface of the floor. I haven't see the latest seats to determine how and why would I use the back seat surface as the floor surface.  It would interest anyone who uses the interior space of the truck or SUV for storage.

[It could also be helpful for using] the rear of the quad-cab Ram truck for sleeping when driving on long trips, by folding the seat and placing a mat on top when switching drivers. In an SUV, flat rear space for cargo is better what I am seeing in any SUV.
The inventors were Michigan residents Walter Holzhueter and Todd McCann. Also see our related coverage from 2013 and 2014 .