It reflects sun and doesn’t get warm. That’s how the new leather developed by Mercedes works. The German auto manufacturer will begin using the new components in its convertible E-Class 300 model, which will come out next year. The new functionality, says the company located in Stuttgart, will be the only difference from the materials used previously.
It doesn’t get warm in the sun
The convertible version of the German coupè will have specific leather seats made with a special cover applied to the finished leather. As explained by Mercedes communication director, Steffen Schierholz to Car and Driver magazine, “”For our sun-reflective leather, there are special color pigments used which reflect the sunlight instead of absorbing it. You can see on the surface no difference between the sun-reflective leather and the normal leather. It looks similar. There is no other difference between both leathers than the color pigments”.
New technology
In summary, it’s not that the new leather of the seats will not absorb the heat from the sun. Rather, the pigments reflect part of the UV rays and thus it absorbs less heat. As a consequence, these seats will get hot a lot more slowly than the classic leather ones. A great advantage for cars such as convertible ones that are left open under the heat of day. This technology is supposed to make seats be about 13 degrees Celsius cooler than standard ones.
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