Fire retardants in 80 series seats?

[ozarkmud]

I thought this was interesting/concerning: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.3c10440

Apparently, vehicle seats in the US have had fire retardants added to them since 1971. I imagine the fire retardant exposure goes down in time.

Does anyone know if non-US 80 series seats were treated? Or are they all treated?

 

[PNWTreeOctopus]

I would assume all the seats are treated regardless of market US/ or ROTW given that there are not very many seat variables, and the foam is likely the same. The rabbit hole of ambient chemical exposure is deep and dark. Flame retardants are pretty nasty.

Maybe this is my self justification to get Sheel-mann seats!

 

[BucketEighty]

I would assume all the seats are treated regardless of market US/ or ROTW given that there are not very many seat variables, and the foam is likely the same. The rabbit hole of ambient chemical exposure is deep and dark. Flame retardants are pretty nasty.

Maybe this is my self justification to get Sheel-mann seats!

I emailed Scheel-Mann to ask about flame retardants and got this response "All of our (cover) materials have a coating in order to meet the FMVSS 302 flammability test."

 

[PNWTreeOctopus]

I emailed Scheel-Mann to ask about flame retardants and got this response "All of our (cover) materials have a coating in order to meet the FMVSS 302 flammability test."

If you need some light reading about flammability testing here's a link to a lab that performs the FMVSS 302 test. I tried to find the specific federal regulation that must be met, but I quickly realized I currently have no capacity for this tech speak.

At least Im off the hook for the Scheel-Mann seats for now

 

[BucketEighty]

If you want flame retardant free seats it seems the best option is to have a local shop do your upholstery with un-treated foam and cover materials.

I’ve been down this rabbit hole for kids car seats, and some materials will pass the standard tests without needing nasty chemicals sprayed on them.