Comfort Motion Global, (CMG) is working with a number of commercial vehicle suppliers and fleet owners to bring its Motion Seating technology to the commercial motor vehicle market.

“With the heightened government awareness on drowsy driving and driver fatigue, truckers are at the front line of attention based on their extended time on the road,” said Richard Ferguson, chief marketing officer, Comfort Motion Global. “Our scientifically proven motion seat technology is a powerful, proactive solution to back fatigue, discomfort and other negative impacts of prolonged sitting, and fits perfectly with the trucking industry’s increased emphasis on driver safety.”

The new, proprietary motion seating technology, recently adopted by Mercedes-Benz under their branding as Energizing Seat Kinetics on their memory-seat equipped GLE, GLS, A- and B-Class vehicles, reduces occupant fatigue and improves overall wellness and safety through automated, micro-adjustments of the driver and passenger seats.

Launched after a decade of biomechanical testing and medical research, CMG’s customizable algorithm, a first of its kind technology, can be programmed into any memory seat and can additionally actuate any other system in the seat such as lumbar support, bolsters, heating and cooling, and existing massage functions.

Dr. Paul Phipps, a noted Indianapolis-based chiropractor specializing in human performance biomechanics, developed Motion Seating after treating his long-time patients for chronic back pain associated with the cumulative effects of sitting, especially when driving frequently or for long distances.

“Working closely with professional athletes, helping them to create structural balance, increased flexibility and greater stability, I realized these same principles could be applied to helping improve driver wellness for those spending extended periods of time sitting in a vehicle,” said Phipps, chief medical officer and director of research and development, Comfort Motion Global. “Once we successfully launched in the automotive industry, we immediately turned our attention to the trucking industry for all the obvious reasons.”

Reducing fatigue-related accidents is a major priority for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which has placed this initiative on its 2019-2020 NTSB ‘MOST WANTED LIST’. The list highlights safety issues identified from NTSB’s accident investigations to increase awareness about the issues and promotes recommended safety solutions. With an estimated 13% of commercial motor vehicle drivers having been considered to have been fatigued at the time of their crash, the NTSB has suggested that fatigue risk management programs, science-based
regulations and individual responsibility as possible solutions to mitigate driver fatigue.

Automated motion seat adjustments redistribute the occupant’s weight in the seat, continuously transferring compressive and shear stresses to new and different tissues. With each small motion (1° or less), it transfers the workload in the spine and supporting muscles to a new area so that no one area does all the work. This allows the natural tissue recovery cycles to occur, improving circulation and decreasing tissue fatigue and discomfort.