What Causes the Rear Seat Hump?

[DiRicardo]

The reasons for the rear seat hump are as follows: 1. To increase the height between the car chassis and the ground: Because the chassis of a family car cannot be too close to the ground, which would threaten driving safety. In the early days of German car manufacturing, a frame structure was used, and the most important feature of this structure is that it can ensure the integrity of the car body in a collision, thereby protecting the passengers inside. Due to the structural nature of the frame, the middle of the rear seat is raised. Therefore, the middle hump in the rear seats of German and American cars is more obvious, while it is less common in Japanese and Korean cars. 2. To accommodate the exhaust pipe and drive shaft: Family cars are generally front-wheel drive and lack a drive shaft device, so some cars may not have a hump in the middle of the rear seats. However, rear-wheel drive and four-wheel drive vehicles must use a drive shaft to drive the rear axle, requiring a groove to accommodate the drive shaft and exhaust pipe. The design of this groove enhances the hardness of the chassis and improves the overall safety of the vehicle, resulting in a hump in the middle of the rear seats.