Did Bentley Construct the Most Comfortable Car Seat Ever?

Over the last few decades, the automobile industry has expanded, and there is more competition than ever to catch consumers’ attention. Many vehicles are being implemented with extra features, as modern consumers expect to get more for their money. Due to this expectation, even the cheapest automobile has a certain level of luxury.

But no one does luxury like Bentley.

Bentley has wowed the automobile industry and its consumers with everything from starlight ceilings to monogrammed champagne glasses. They are the epitome of luxury, class, and ground-breaking engineering.

Now, they have added a new layer of luxury to their cars by releasing the world’s first auto climate sensing and advanced postural adjustment system, called the “Airline” seat.

Image source: Bentley Media

Bentley’s “Airline” Car Seat

The ethos for this “Airline” seat is the concept of a relaxed business-class flight in a brand-new Bentley.

The 2023 Bentley Bentayga is the first Bentley to be fitted with its new $11,195 “Airline” rear seats. The Bentayga has an extended wheelbase of seven inches, giving its passengers more legroom to enjoy their re-designed car seats. Also, the glass roof has been extended to expose passengers to more natural light.

The “Airline” seat is a collaboration with Bentley and Comfort Motion Global Team (CMG). CMG has extensively researched medical trials surrounding how seating affects the human body long-term. So, it made them the obvious choice when Bentley was looking for a team to construct their iconic seats.

Image source: Bentley Media

Features of Bentley’s “Airline” Seats

Bentley has coined these seats as “innovative, new live-response seating technology” to support passenger posture and control body temperature.

Auto Climate

The “Airline” seat was painstakingly designed for consumer support and comfort. These seats have seven defined comfort levels for temperature. There are settings for users who want to change their seat’s temperature, either warming or cooling it. The seats have optimum temperatures for the passenger to more advanced settings, like targeted warming relief for pain or cooling to help with a fever.

Bentley has implemented a sensing loop within the seat, giving a real-time data feed when the user sits in it. It can measure temperature with an accuracy of 0.1 degrees Celsius every 25 milliseconds.

From this data, the system can adjust the seat’s temperature to the most comfortable for the passenger and maintain their optimum thermal comfort throughout the journey. This system is 40 percent more efficient than traditional temperature controls.

Seat Adjustments

There are many seat massage and adjustment features already implemented within various cars. This postural adjustment system goes a step further by adjusting the contact between the seat and the body sitting in it. It employs a 3d system to relieve pressure points when sitting for long periods.

CMG has been working with chiropractors in fatigue prevention for several years. Within the seat, there are adjustments in the contour of the backrest and the cushion, and the length of the cushion assembly can also be changed. This type of adjustment is not found in second-row automobile seating.

This system is comprised of six pressure zones and offers users up to 177 individual adjustments controlled by a detachable screen. It creates subtle changes in the seat’s surface, relieving pressure in one area and applying it in another.

It is controlled by twelve electric motors and three intelligent Pneumatic Valve ECU units. These motors use pneumatic bladders to give micro-adjustments for the ultimate comfort experience.

Materials

The Bentley “Airline” seats are constructed using a complex seat interlayer construction. There are three types of foam used within these luxury seats. Bentley painstakingly picked each material to ensure that it filters out any bumps in the road or sensations of driving so that the passenger can completely relax.

Image source: Bentley Media

Research Process for Bentley’s “Airline” Seat: the most comfortable car seat

All things considered, Bentley has completed extensive research into optimum comfort for their customers, including how male and female customers interpret different surface temperatures and how to support a human lumbar system.

They have extensively tested the type of foam used with the “Airline Seat,” including hardness, mass, density tests, and human testing to ensure the material is fit for purpose. Using different set groups, Bentley adjusted these seats at different angles and positions and received a large amount of feedback.

During this testing stage, Bentley focused on getting each test subject comfortable as efficiently as possible and maintaining that level of comfort throughout the period they were sitting in their seat. Clearly, this is why their new seats are ground-breaking in automotive interior design.

Bentley has revealed that orders for these seats are increasing as 50% of customers that have pre-ordered the Bentayga have opted to add the “Airline” seats. Customers and car enthusiasts have realized that a lot of research, data, and engineering when into these seats, and they are not just a marketing gimmick. In the future, they will be available in other models, not just exclusively in Bentayga.