Sun-reflective leather keeps convertible's seats cooler
A sun-reflective coating applied to interior leather of the 2021 Mercedes E-Class Cabriolet is said to keep seats 55 degrees cooler under direct sunlight.
Steffen Schierholz, Mercedes manager of global product communications for E-Class and others, told Car and Driver that the sun-reflective leather has special colour pigments designed to reflect sunlight instead of absorbing it.
On the surface, he said, there is no visible difference between the sun-reflective leather and regular leather, other than the colour pigments.
Seats will still absorb heat, but they will heat up at a slower speed. While the feature is particularly valuable in a convertible car parked with its top down on a sunny day, the coating also reduces the heat inside the vehicle when the top is up.
