Method of making an extruded mesh body for a vehicle seat and the article made thereby

A seat assembly comprising:

• a seat frame;
• a seat cover;
• and
• a body comprising a plurality of extruded polymer filaments randomly oriented and bonded together to form an intermediate preform comprising first zones of the extruded polymer filaments comprising a first density and second zones of the extruded polymer filaments comprising the extruded polymer filaments comprising a second density less than the first density, wherein the intermediate preform is molded to form a molded seat cushion.

A method comprising:

• melting a polymer resin to form a molten polymer;
• extruding the molten polymer through a die head to form extruded polymer filaments;
• shaping and bonding the extruded polymer filaments into a strip of filaments comprising a predetermined cross-section;
• pulling the strip of filaments into a cooling bath in a longitudinal direction with a plurality of tractor belts arrayed transverse to the longitudinal direction, wherein the tractor belts each move one of a plurality of portions of the strip of filaments in the longitudinal direction;
• and
• controlling the plurality of tractor belts to move one of the plurality of portions of the strip of filaments at different speeds relative to the other ones of the plurality of tractor belts to locally control a density of the plurality of portions of the strip of filaments across a width of the strip of polymer filaments.