Prius C Bench Seats

I've had a fondness for Classic & older cars such as cars made in the 40's, 50's and 60's. Cars such as the old Buicks, and Cadillacs. I drive an 1995 Olds Eighty Eight that I take good care of and plan to drive until it dies. I prefer these vehicles, however they simply don't build them like they used to. I've found you've got to go to the hybrid vehicles and EV's to get the awesome build quality, quietness, reliability, longevity, easy maintenance, and etc that used to be common in the old days. Not to mention gasoline isn't $0.25 a gallon anymore. Additionally, I enjoy the styling of the good old days but I understand that the Prius isn't too fancy and or old for that matter.

I love my Oldsmobile's Bench seats and I'd really love to have them in a Prius C. They'd be especially nice since the C doesn't have a lot of room. Its small and cramped and therefore I'd like all the room I can get. I'd like to take out the buckets and drop in a bench from a truck or something. A Tacoma, or Tundra maybe would fit. A bench seat from an old Ranger I think could fit.

The hardest part would be getting past that center column that goes between the seats. I thought that since the Prius C is Drive by Wire, that maybe I could relocate the drive selector to someplace else. What do you guys think? Would it be possible to swap out the Buckets and drop in a Bench?

 

Air bags don't really matter all that much for Bench Seats. They have Bench Seats in trucks these days and there isn't any airbags to protect the middle passenger. Besides that I don't really care about the air bags anyway. Air bags are just another thing I've got to replace on it when they inevitably go off. I once had a 1994 Dodge Shadow, after 15 years of driving without the airbag deploying they went off. They went off not because of an accident (no, I'm a good driver) but because I hit a pothole on the expressway and it triggered it. Their wasn't anything else wrong (not even a bent rim) just the airbags.

The next day I cut it out and Superglued the steering-wheel back together (since it was torn in the center). To replace them it would have been a $1000 easy. I think the C has more than enough airbags to keep everybody safe. They are up to 9 airbags (with curtains and everything). I would think that would be enough especially for a car that small. My Shadow only had one (on the steering wheel) and it was a little bigger. But, maybe that is why Toyota couldn't mass produce the C with Bench seats. I don't know.