A bucket seat is a car seat contoured to hold one person, distinct from a flat bench seat designed to fit multiple people. In its simplest form it contours somewhat to the human body, but may have a deep seat and exaggerated sides that partially enclose and support the body in high-performance automobiles.

Before the World War II, the term Kübelsitzwagen (meaning bucket-seat car) became popular in Germany, for light open-topped, cross-country and military vehicles without doors, because these were typically equipped with bucket seats, to help keep occupants on board, in an era before the adoption of seat belts.^{: 78, 116, 132, 136 : 22} This body style had first been developed by Karosseriefabrik N. Trutz in 1923.^: 78 They are typically standard in front in fast cars to keep drivers and other passengers in place when turning at speed. Rear "bucket seats" are typically hybrids of bench and true bucket seats, being contoured generally like the latter but fixed in place, even when divided by a center console, and thus lacking a free-standing bucket seat's front-rear and often backrest angle adjustability.