Wider seats … for wider seats

If you gorged at the holiday buffet, don’t worry: You’ll still fit in your car.

As Americans grow heftier, automakers are making seats wider, adding more space to interiors and using bigger virtual mannequins to help design vehicles.

Extra-wide seats are important now that 62 percent of adults are considered overweight or obese, according to market research firm NPD Group. The figure has doubled since the late 1970s.

For the auto industry, the solution is not just about hippy seats. It’s also wider cars.

Toyota added a half-inch of width to the RAV4 sport utility and up to 3 inches to the 4Runner, Sienna, Tacoma and Avalon. The goal was both comfort and extra interior space to help protect passengers in side-impact crashes, according to Toyota’s Paul Williamsen.

For its part, Ford Motor recently started using what it believes are the industry’s first set of virtual mannequins depicting nine different body types — including a hulking man — in computer-aided design. Reason: a finding that the average near-biggest man grew 27 pounds heavier and nearly an inch-and-a-half wider in the hips from 1962 to 2000.

“For the first time, we’ve made these virtual dummies to reflect people’s growing sizes,” Ford spokeswoman Jennifer Flake says.

Ford is also paying attention to comfort of the seats themselves. The automaker is researching whether to install power massage units in the backs and cushions of its seats.