When it launches later this year, the all-new Cadillac XTS sedan will be loaded with GM’s best bells and whistles. And Cadillac says it will be the first car to use “directional tactile sensation,” or vibrations, in the driver’s seat to alert drivers to possible crash threats on the road or in a parking lot or driveway.

The patented Cadillac Safety Alert Seat provides a pattern of vibrating pulses on the left and/or right side of the lower bolster to warn drivers when they’re drifting out of their lane or toward other cars or objects while parking. If trouble is approaching from the front or rear, both sides of the seat pulse. The Safety Alert Seat uses a variety of sensors and cameras installed in the car to determine when to activate warnings, and the driver can select Safety Alert Seat vibrations via an in-vehicle menu.

The seats also will be connected to Park Assist  and Rear Cross Traffic Alert systems to help ease the sedan into tight parking spaces. Drivers will be able to see the outside of the car on an 8-inch in-dash LCD screen connected to exterior cameras. When the car is backing up and an object is detected directly behind it, the system gives off quick pulses to both sides of the seat. It then provides repeated pulses as the car gets closer to the object. The Rear Cross Traffic Alert system also keeps an eye out for traffic behind the vehicle, the presence of which is signaled with either left or right pulses to the driver's seat.

The Safety Alert Seat system works with other visual warnings in the vehicle and is part of the Driver Awareness and Driver Assist option packages that will be available on the XTS. The Driver Assist Package also includes Adaptive Cruise Control, Automatic Collision Preparation and Front and Rear Automatic Braking Systems. The Driver Awareness package includes Forward Collision Alert, Lane Departure Warning, Side Blind Zone Alert and Rear Cross Traffic Alert. Both option packages will also be available this year for the Cadillac ATS sedan and SRX crossover.

No word on whether a vibrating massage seat option will also be available, but we doubt it. After all, it could only serve to confuse the driver.