BASF, Toyota and US Farathane have won the prestigious Altair Enlighten Award in the category of enabling technology for the resin seat frame design in the 2024 Toyota Tacoma™ TRD Pro model. Adopting this innovation in the IsoDynamic Performance Seats reduces the need for multi-piece steel components, resulting in an estimated cost savings of 20% and a weight savings of 30%, while passing all front-row seat requirements.

“To ensure passengers experience a good ride and smooth handling in our off-road vehicles, the IsoDynamic Performance Seat utilizes lateral, vertical and horizontal dynamic motions with adjustable dampers for the driver and passengers,” said Brandon Vick, Senior Engineer, Body Design of Seats, Toyota. “BASF and US Farathane are great partners who helped us achieve many firsts with this unique seat innovation.”

This seat structure, injection molded by US Farathane Corporation, uses a combination of BASF’s Ultramid® impact-modified polyamide grades. Using BASF’s Ultrasim® CAE program, the seatback and cushion structural design optimization creates a suspension system that ensures lateral rigidity in resin frames while improving the occupant’s ride.

“Through this close collaboration, we were able to reduce an all-steel assembly that included more than seventeen steel components into one molded part,” said Dan Fleming, Director of Advanced Engineering and Project Leader, US Farathane Corporation.

Innovation throughout the process has massive potential to spread to other applications. Close collaboration and customer-led innovative engineering can bring many firsts.

“At BASF, we work very closely with our customers and their customers to deliver lightweight, cost-effective solutions with integrated functionality,” said Kipp Grumm, Senior Technical Development Engineer, Performance Materials, BASF Corporation. “The unique design of the injection molded resin seat frame in the IsoDynamic Performance Seat can open the door for future projects in off-road vehicles.”