An inventor from Yorkshire has made a breakthrough in a 500-year-old technology that one of the world’s biggest automotive components makers thinks could lead to “greener” motoring by significantly cutting the weight and carbon dioxide emissions of cars.

Simon Spinks, managing director and part owner of Harrison Spinks, a Leeds-based mattress maker, has teamed up with US-based Johnson Controls, the world’s biggest producer of car seats, which is evaluating his invention: a new kind of miniature coiled spring. Johnson Controls, which is also among the top 10 makers of car parts by sales, believes the new spring could revolutionise the production of car seats, construction of which has barely changed for half a century.

Not only could the springs cut the weight of cars and lead to lower carbon dioxide emissions by reducing fuel consumption but they could also make car seats easier to recycle by replacing the large amounts of polyurethane foam currently used in the products. Springs are made from lengths of steel wire, which is relatively easy to recycle.

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