Chrysler Group to introduce new stain- and odor-resistant upholstery
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The 2006 Chrysler Aspen, Dodge
Caliber, and Jeep Wrangler will be offered with Milliken and Company's YES Essentials "advanced upholstery system". For those of you who either
tend to make your own mess, or cart around those that do (whether that be children or adults that act like kids), this
stuff should be a godsend. The fabric not only resists stains (including those that have soaked in and dried for some
period of time), but also has a silver-based antimicrobacterial treatment that allows it to inhibit the growth of mold
and mildew. Additionally, the treatment reduces static shock by a claimed 50%. Granted, vinyl seats have offered this
mixture of features for years, but these should be significantly more comfortable. If indeed these claims are true,
then this is certainly something I'd want in any vehicle I purchase. For those not buying a new Chrysler Group product, Milliken also offers aftermarket floormats with the same technology.
[Source: Chrysler/Milliken]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
John 6:29PM (1/23/2006)
Their demonstration video remindes me of the clip of the Oxyclean guy rubbing out stains... like magic.
(click on Automotive Revolution in the right-hand column then scroll down to the bottom)
http://xweb4.milliken.com/YEW/MediaCenter/
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Joe 6:50PM (1/23/2006)
So do the seats systematically reject the car itself for being a large piece of crap?
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RamSport47 7:18PM (1/23/2006)
#2 talking out his ass...obviously never had a Chrysler product, and if he did...not in this century
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whofan 8:14PM (1/23/2006)
Chryslers are some of the nicest vehicles on the road. My wifes 99 Plymouth Voyager has been the best car we owned. I just wish it were still an American company. Looks like the Germans are taking good care of it.
GM and Ford could take notes from Chrysler.
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Sheniferous 8:32PM (1/23/2006)
Milliken also makes the FXC fabric material that is waterproof and stain-resistant that was debuted in the 2003 Honda Element.
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Joe 9:24PM (1/23/2006)
Not talking out my ass. I work at a dealership where i go over trade-ins and coordinate the wholesaling of hundreds of cars. I attend local auctions and consider myslef to be very intelligent when it comes to products. I know what sells and what sits, especially here in NJ. So say what you want, but the products i see on trade from chrysler, dodge and very few plymouths do not lead me to ever utter the words 'Very nice car' I'm no saying that they do not build superior cars to say Ford, or Chevy; lets face it they all have their struggles, but I could never ever bring myself to purchasing a vehicle that depreciates as fast as the dodge line-up. Its nearly impossible to trade-in those vehicles and sell them before the value falls out of them. There are not enough shoppers for how many of the used products exist and the manufacturer is throwing money at customers to get rid of them. I many times will not trade a Volkswagen or Dodge unless i have a solid buyer looking for them.
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Jim P 1:25AM (1/24/2006)
#6 does have somewhat a valid point. I also worked for a big Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, and BMW dealership here in N. Michigan. Yes, the domestics do have lower resale value than the Asian or European brands. But in my opinion, I think that the majority of new cars are overpriced and that most of them (including the imports) depreicate enough to the point that from a financial point of view, it's better to get a good 2-3 yr old model instead of brand new. Because every car depreciates quite a bit over the first 2-3 yrs. Unless you have the extra money to spend on brand new and don't care about taking a big hit on depreciation.
A good example to this is a '05 Cadillac Deville w/ 25k miles, excellent condition that someone was selling as an off-lease vehicle privately in the local paper. This car new stickered around approx. $46,000. The asking price was $22,500 or best offer. It's funny, because the domestic luxury cars depreciation is terrible. Not saying anything wrong with the cars, but they just don't hold their value like their foreign competition. Heck, for around 20 grand, I'd buy that Caddie and spend another few thousand for a good extended warranty and smile from all the money I saved!! 22k is much nicer than 46k or even 40k if you consider all the rebates/incentives, etc. Just my opinion.
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Jay 2:25AM (1/24/2006)
>Not talking out my ass. I work at a dealership where i
>go over trade-ins and coordinate the wholesaling of
>hundreds of cars. I attend local auctions and consider
>myslef to be very intelligent when it comes to
>products. I know what sells and what sits, especially
>here in NJ. So say what you want, but the products i
>see on trade from chrysler, dodge and very few
>plymouths do not lead me to ever utter the words 'Very
>nice car' I'm no saying that they do not build
>superior cars to say Ford, or Chevy; lets face it they
>all have their struggles, but I could never ever bring
>myself to purchasing a vehicle that depreciates as
>fast as the dodge line-up. Its nearly impossible to
>trade-in those vehicles and sell them before the value
>falls out of them
And this makes the cars crap...why? Solely because of their resale value? Nothing to do with the car itself?
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annie 3:16AM (1/24/2006)
How many chemicals have gone into making these seats and how long will they be filling up landfills long after the rest of us have turned to dust? I want a car that can be recycled and reused somehow. Vinyl seats aren't the way to make this mother of 2 buy their car. Tell me how your company will make the planet nicer for my kids and we can talk.
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Car-la 9:57AM (1/24/2006)
#9, I was thinking the same. After the recent article here on Autoblog about all the chemicals in today's cars, I don't think I need any more stuff like this in my car.
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Joe 10:19AM (1/24/2006)
Resale is just the easiest to gauge portion of what a car's value is. The used ar market reflects the new car market, if its a soft new car (as in low sales, high incentives, low amount of customer interest) that will translate into hurting the resale of the used models of that car. Its not rocket surgery. Are there other things that make it crap, of course, they may include how much it would cost to recondition a vehicle, how often i would need to recondition it, or out of the 20 I brought in on trade how many of those had similar problems, thus making it a consistent and likely repair. as example the ford V6 3.8L is an engine i never bring on my lot, it blows head gaskets left and right. Chryslers for me and my lot have always had issues with transmission slips, electrical gremlins including the power windows, and their brakes seem to wear quickly around here. Now NJ may be the cause for the tranmissions and the brakes due to hard stop-and-go driving, but if that were the case all of the cars I trade in should on some level have those types of problems. However i find the Chrysler group cars seem to struggle with it more than most other brands. Those are not always cheap to fix so i have to valuate those vehicles for less simply for the reason that i have to be able to sell these cars for a profit. Therefore, yes i think they have their struggles and there are some real nightmare cars (There is absolutely no market for the Stratus/Cirrus in my area) and i need to keep that in mind. I price the vehicles according to what book is, what they do at auctions, how quickly I can turn them around and what it will cost me to garuantee that they will pass NJ state inspection, the long and short of it is Chryslers are not cars I make money with on my lot, Acuras, Toyotas, and diesel trucks are what make the money around here.
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Zed 12:42PM (1/24/2006)
I'm amazed. Someone who actually knows what the heck he's talking about on here. Thanks Joe for the breath of fresh air on a subject you obviously know more about than 99.9% of readers/posters. Sometimes I wonder if a good chunk of the obnoxious comments here are from marketing hacks being paid to defend their employers...
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iQuack 3:58PM (1/24/2006)
#9 & #10--Annie and Car-la:
Maybe there's an Earth-friendly car for you girls. The body panels will be made from soy meal and the interior will be upholstered in filo dough. The engine block will be cast from hard cheese; say, gruyere, and the windows can be from cellophane noodles compressed to transparency.
Oh, and it'll run on large tasty donut tires--made from real donuts, of course.
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