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Would you like beans with that? 2008 Mustang to use soy-based seat foam
The 2008 Mustang that appears in August will be full o' beans. Soybeans. Ford has teamed with automotive supplier Lear Corporation on the creation of soy-based seat foam. Car seats currently contain roughly petroleum-based foam, and the new soy-based variety will substitute nearly a quarter of that mass with renewable content, as well as lower the amount of C0² emitted during the creation of the foam. Ford's been playing around with soy ever since with Model T, which contained 60 pounds of beans in its paint and molded plastic parts. This is the kind of environmental tech we can get behind -- and sit on -- without reservation. We do wonder, however, what it will do to that new car smell. This isn't the only "green" material Ford's using with regard to seating accommodations in '08 models, either. The new Escape's seat upholstery is made of eco-friendly recycled materials. For Ford's full press release on the new soy foam seats, click the image above or the "Read" link below to see it at AutoblogGreen.
[Source: AutoblogGreen]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Phewop118 6:19PM (7/14/2007)
yuck. the poor escape owners get used seats.
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icetraxx 7:04PM (7/14/2007)
Saying the escape gets "used" seats is like saying that anybody buying a Scion is getting a used car, as most of the plastic in a Scion comes from recycled Toyotas.
Barney 7:07PM (7/14/2007)
Henry Ford was a pioneer in using Soya based plastics. He actually grew soya beans on his farms. Petroleum based foam and plastics must have become cheaper.
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Richard 8:14PM (7/14/2007)
NO F-ING WAY IF THEY ARE GMO (genetically modified) SOY BEANS!!!
I'LL PROTEST BECAUSE THIS IS YET ANOTHER AMERICAN FAT CAT PLOT TO SCREW THE POOR SOY BEAN FARMERS IN THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES BY GIVING THEM SOY PLANTS THAT WILL NOT REPRODUCE AND MUST BE RE-PLANTED (AS IN PURCHASED FROM FAT-CAT AMERICAN COMPANIES).
THIS WHOLE ECO THING IS JUST ONE MORE WAY CAPITALISTS WHORES ARE SCREWING THE THIRD WORLD!
BASTARDS!!!!!!!!!!
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John 9:55AM (7/16/2007)
Sounds like somebody has his tin foil hat on a little too tight.
phil 11:35PM (7/14/2007)
uhh... ok. I'm glad you're thinking logically on this one.
Barney 12:48AM (7/15/2007)
I understand what you are saying, Richard but this Soya may not be grown for food or it may be. There is no word on that yet. I do agree that greed will take over if the product proves to workable.
CheezeDog 5:07PM (7/15/2007)
I think I will not have whatever that guy is smoking...
Richard 11:01AM (7/16/2007)
OK! Everybody. I meant this mostly tongue-in-cheek. But the article did give me a flashback to the crazy stuff I used to hear when I worked for a company that developed a line of genetically modified soy beans and corn.
I hope the Ford PR Boffins are more prepared than were we.
SloopJohnB 8:48PM (7/14/2007)
I just hope this crap foam holds up better than the old polyurethane foam or whatever they use now.
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Infinihertz 12:07AM (7/15/2007)
I don't understand how switching materials to be more environmentally friendly makes the foam "crap," considering we haven't tried it out yet. Once you've sat in one of these seats, by all means share your opinion.
Ford may have found a way to save money by using soy too (I don't think that was mentioned), but even if they did, that doesn't necessarily make it any crappier either.
Barney 12:44AM (7/15/2007)
You made your mind up without having a clue.
"I just hope this crap foam holds up better...."
You call it crap but hopes it holds up better. Oxymoron, don't you think?
hc5duke 10:14PM (7/14/2007)
A minor point and probably a typo, but had to say it: carbon dioxide is CO², NOT C0².
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hc5duke 10:18PM (7/14/2007)
I'm correcting my own error but before someone else points out it should be subscript 2 not superscript 2 :-p
John 9:54AM (7/16/2007)
Henry Ford experimented with soybeans, and experimented with making an entire car out of soybeans during WWII. He probably got the idea, at least in part, from George Washington Carver, a good friend of his. His goal was to make an entire car off of soybeans and run it off of soybean fuel.
http://www.thehenryford.org/research/services/populartopics/SoybeanCar/default.asp
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TIMMAH! 10:41PM (7/14/2007)
I'm concerned about the outgassing from this new material...
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Turbofrog 1:16AM (7/15/2007)
Any harmful outgassing would likely be from the adhesives, which would be the same regardless of the foam material.
Unless of course that was sarcasm?
TIMMAH! 12:20PM (7/15/2007)
Beans... outgassing... yeah it was, sorry should have included a smilie...
Devin 1:13AM (7/15/2007)
I can't believe what people on this board are writing?! The anti-american attitude is ridiculous! I applaud Ford for taking moves like this to reduce the impact on the environment. Lord knows if this is Toyota, when the same people would be complaining that "Detroit is behind again" yada yada yada..
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Barney 4:47AM (7/15/2007)
You are the one who seem to take it as anti-American. No one stipulated it and then you seem to want Toyota in the conversation as well. Paranoid or bigoted?