Best car cushions and seat covers

By Stuart Johnston

Despite huge advances in car seat design in the past few decades, car seat augmenting  cushions and seat covers are still a popular-selling item at spares and accessory shops around the country.

You need to check with your doctor regarding cushions with claimed medical benefits

A number of cushions are available on the South African market for all sorts of ailments, such as haemorrhoids, prostate problems and back problems. Many claims are made for these aids, but if you suffer from any of these physical problems we would recommend consulting your doctor before spending (in some cases large) sums of money on any of these aids.

Seat covers are usually bought to hide defects

Seat covers are usually bought by people wishing to cover up defects on their car seats, and there are a number of brands that have been around for many years. The most common problem we have found with these covers is that they designed to fit a number of seat shapes, and thus they very rarely ever fit any seat properly.

Frustrating when they don’t fit properly

There is nothing more frustrating than sliding into a car seat and rumpling the seat cover up. Unless the cover fits the seat perfectly, this invariably happens every time you hop into the car!

The exceptions to this rule are the high-quality off-road seat covers

High quality off-road-type seat covers, however, serve a real purpose, keeping mud and grit away from the seats of a vehicle used in rough off-road conditions. Many of these seat covers are of exceptional quality, and tailored to fit specific vehicles. They are obtainable through dealers and through specialist off-road shops.

The best seat covers are sheep skins!

By far the best seat covers we have experienced are genuine sheep skin covers. These used to be very popular in the days when most cars still had vinyl upholstery which was cold in winter but hot and sweaty in summer. In fact, leather seats suffer from these traits as well, but to a lesser extent.

We had thought that sheep skin covers had become extinct, but were pleased to note that they still being made in South Africa. One of the pioneers in the old sheep skin cover “boom” was a Cape Town-based company called Oskava. And they still exist, having been in business since 1966!

Their sheep skin covers are made from genuine Merino sheep pelts, and cost R 2 100 per seat. You can choose between sand, black and silver grey colours.

Fitted to an old W123 Mercedes-Benz, there is nothing more comfortable than floating along in sheep-skin-snuggled splendour!