GM is releasing an all-new Chevy Malibu for the 2013 model year. GM is putting the final touches on the new Malibu including optimizing its seats.
The Chevy Malibu has to appeal to many different buyers of all shapes and sizes in order to be successful. GM’s engineers and designers from all around the world have provided input into the 2013 Malibu seats in order to make sure they provide the maximum comfort. 
GM’s engineers used state-of-the-art digital pressure-mapping technology to scan the rear-end impressions of people of all shapes and sizes. The system takes a snapshot of a person’s back and rear-end pressure distribution over the seat surface, creating a map with more than 4,600 data points. The information is transferred to a laptop computer that generates graphics illustrating how occupants sit in the seat statically or while driving.
“This test allows us to understand how far a customer will compress into the seat to ensure the selected seat foam and other materials can support the pressure,” said Daniel Cohen, one of the seat performance engineers for the Malibu. “We want to find the sweet spot of seat comfort: a seat that is neither too firm nor too soft, but just right.”
The all-new 2013 Malibu will be sold in almost 100 countries around the world, which makes it essential that GM designs the Malibu to appeal to a wide audience. The production of the 2013 Malibu will kick off in early 2012 with the ECO model.
