ORLANDO For the first time in a decade, a motorcoach seat has created a sensation at a UMA Motorcoach Expo.

What makes the seat unique is its patented construction that provides crash protection for both belted and unbelted passengers, and for both adults and small children.

The seat was developed by SafeGuard of Westfield, Ind., the leader in child passenger protection and the largest child seating safety products manufacturer in the world.

SafeGuard has formed a partnership with American Seating of Grand Rapids, Mich., to produce the innovative Premier seat for the motorcoach industry.

The Premier employs a dual-frame technology, which SafeGuard calls SmartFrame. The seat essentially separates into two pieces during a crash, providing protection to passengers who are using its three-point integral seatbelt, as well as those passengers who arent buckled up.

The seats inner structure, with its lap-shoulder belt, absorbs crash energy for belted passengers, while the outer seatback structure remains vertical to cushion anyone behind the seat who is not belted, providing full compartmentalization protection in frontal crashes.

SafeGuard and American Seating say the Premier is the only motorcoach seat combining lap-shoulder belts with full compartmentalization.

A slide mechanism on the shoulder belt allows small children, those weighing more than 40 pounds, to use the seat and have its full protection without special gear.

Perhaps the best testament to the seats capabilities is the fact that Greyhound Lines has specd it for scores of Prevost X3-45 coaches it has ordered. At the time the 140-coach order was announced the name of the seat supplier was not revealed, only that the Prevosts being purchased by Greyhound would be seatbelt equipped. (See Oct. 15 Bus & Motorcoach News.)

Greyhound has a long history of not identifying its key suppliers, and neither SafeGuard nor American Seating executives would confirm Greyhound had specified the SafeGuard seats on its new X3-45s. But other industry executives did.

Unlike some manufacturers, SafeGuard maintains its own aggressive crash testing program. To support the development of its bus seat products, SafeGuard has conducted more than 200 sled tests and 20 school bus rollover tests, plus tested thousands of components to assure performance and durability.

With the introduction of the Premier seat, "American Seating and SafeGuard are working to address one of five federal highway safety priorities on the NTSB Most-Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements for 2008," said James Johnson, director of sales for SafeGuard, a division of IMMI, which specializes in designing and manufacturing restraint systems for off-highway vehicles, buses, boats, and most recently, pets.

Johnson says the Premier is the only seat tested and capable of meeting Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards 208, 209, 210, 213, 222 and 225.

Dave McLaughlin, vice president of transportation sales for American Seating, said the partnership between American Seating and SafeGuard, "enables us to combine our transportation seating experience with the safety expertise of SafeGuard, together offering an exciting, revolutionary safety solution to the U.S. motorcoach market."

Adds Johnson: "The partnership with American Seating allows us to change the discussion in the motorcoach industry about safety. SafeGuard brings 30 years of experience in designing and developing integrated safety systems, while American Seating has set the industry benchmark for transportation seating for over 70 years."

While the Premier is currently available on Prevost coaches, other bus builders are looking at the seat for their coaches.

Also at Motorcoach Expo, American Seating unveiled a new, patent-pending motorcoach slider-seat securement system, the Autoslide.

American says the Autoslide addresses one of the biggest issues with conventional slider systems: dirt and debris accumulating in tracks and obstructing slider-seat movement.

Currently, many slider-seat designs use covers that must be removed to slide or reposition seats. The covers can be difficult to remove and reinstall, and they can be damaged. Frequently, covers arent replaced and parts lost. The result is debris accumulating in the uncovered track and obstructing slider-seat operation, which can result in the inability to secure a wheelchair.

The Autoslide features an integrated, permanent track-cover system. The cover does not need to be removed to reposition seats to make room for a wheelchair. The system enhances the ability to safely secure a wheelchair and reduces dirt and debris accumulation in tracks to maintain ease of seat movement, says American.