What was the last American vehicle that still had bench seats in front?
Just cars or any (passenger) vehicles, including SUVs? Also, are you only counting traditional bench seats that were essentially one long bench?
Do you consider this (2005 Impala) to have a bench seat? IMO, that’s three distinct seats.
FWIW, when I googled it, the ‘correct’ answer seems to be a 2013 Chevy Impala Limited. But I couldn’t find a picture other than the one in the article.
Technically that’s a “60/40 split bench.” The difference between that and three seats is that the poor soul who gets stuck in the middle has an even less comfortable seat.
Passenger cars, one piece bench seat.
Well, at least on newer cars, they’re likely to be front wheel drive so you’re knees aren’t in your chest.
“Vehicle” or “passenger car”? Because I think they were common in pickup trucks after they ceased to be common in cars.
My 1986 Dodge Ram pick up truck had one.
As stated in my previous post, passenger car.
This article lists some cars made in 2011 and 2012 with bench seats. Buick Lucerne, Ford Crown Victoria, Lincoln Town, and Mercury Grand Marquis.
But I strongly suspect those are all the “split bench” variety. The OP seems to be asking about single piece bench seats.
Here’s a 1986 Plymouth Reliant that appears to have a single piece bench seat in the front. There’s a fold down arm rest in the middle, but to my eyes it looks like the bottom seat cushion is one single piece, with no split. It wouldn’t surprise me if that was one of the last with one long bench – even in the 1980s it seemed like the split bench was the more common front seat configuration.
Come to think of it, if the OP considers minivans to be “cars”, you could actually get a Dodge Caravan / Plymouth Voyager with a front bench seat, which got you seating for 8 passengers. I’m pretty sure if you ordered your minivan that way you just got the same bench seat as the rear seat installed up front. Very few were actually configured that way – most buyers opted for the bucket seats. But since the first generation Caravan/Voyager lasted through 1990, I’m guessing you could, at least theoretically, get a font bench seat in a minivan through 1990.
I had a 1988 Chevy Caprice, retired police car, that had a solid front bench. It was blue vinyl, and the car also had rubber floors, no carpet. One day, I foolishly treated the entire interior with Armor All, which made it look amazing but also dangerously slippery. I can’t think of any newer car I’ve had with a one piece bench.
That Chevy had the same body style through 1992, so it is possible it remained an option until then. I had a 1994 Caprice also, and that bench was split.
I thought about the Caprice. Then I remembered Doug DeMuro reviewed a 1985 Oldsmobile station wagon (basically the same car) on his YouTube channel, and that had a split bench. But I could how the bare bones fleet version that they sold to police departments and taxi companies would still have a solid bench. And maybe even the base model “civilian” version, with the split bench offered as an optional upgrade.