BASF, Flex-N-Gate, Toyota, and L&L Products were awarded the prestigious Altair Enlighten Award for achievements in vehicle weight savings with the composite seatback design on the 2022 Toyota Tundra™. This is the second time in three years that BASF, L&L Products, and Toyota have been recognized in the module lightweighting category.

The seat structure is the first interior application for L&L Products’ Continuous Composite Systems™ (CCS™) technology that uses BASF’s polyurethane pultrusion system Elastocoat® 74850. CCS is a fiber-reinforced composite carrier with highly engineered sealants and adhesives in a two-dimensional profile. In this application it was overmolded with BASF’s impact-modified polyamide 6 Ultramid® B3ZG7 CR to create the 3D shape of the 60% seat back.

“We continue to show how pultrusion can deliver lightweight, cost-effective solutions as well as integrated functionality,” said Kipp Grumm, technology leader for Thermoplastic Composites, Performance Materials, BASF Corp. “The unique design of the injection overmolded pultruded beam in the seat structure also passed all relevant crash test requirements and opens the door for more adoption of composites in automotive applications.”

Learn more at www.basf.com, www.flex-n-gate.com, www.toyota.com, and www.llproducts.com.