This Chinese EV Maker Wants To Put A Foot Bath In The Back Seat Of Your Car. Really

If you've ever been in the back of a Rolls-Royce, you'll know just how lovely its rear lambswool carpets are. Their shag is so deep, soft, and luxurious that it's a crime to keep your shoes on back there. While enjoying them, you might think they're the pinnacle of rear seat foot comfort. However, Chinese EV maker Deepal wants to one-up even Rolls-Royce, with an extendable backseat foot bath.

According to Australia's Which Car?, Changan sub-brand Deepal recently filed a patent for a foot bath that would extend out from under the front seats, so that passengers can literally wash their feet while on the move. Once extended, rear passengers can place their feet in the water, which is presumably heated, and even massage them on rollers at the bottom of the basin. Hopefully, there's a towel rack or cubby back there, otherwise you're taking wet feet out and soaking the carpets, which sounds like a nightmare for interior mold.

Photo by: Changan

What about sloshing? I can't even drive around with a Wawa coffee cup filled near the top or it'll slosh out of the spout onto my center console. So how is a basin of water not going to toss all of its water onto the floor at the first bump or turn? According to Car Expert, Deepal's patent claims that the basin can actually block the water from sloshing out. It also has guide holes which let sloshing water recirculate into the bottom, keeping the liquid level low.

There's also a disinfection assembly, to keep the water from being gross, and a quick disconnect to dispose of the water from the vehicle body.

Will this technology ever actually make production? Who knows, as automakers often patent wild ideas just to future-proof their ability to make it one day. But foot baths are quite popular in China, so who knows, maybe there's enough demand for this sort of thing. If it never makes production (which seems likely),though, I think some deep carpets and no shoes, Die Hard-style, will do just fine.

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