Bentley gives its buyers a seat that can adjust pressure points over time, detect temperature changes before you can, and even help stop a fever. Now, that’s luxury!
Just how much comfort can the Bentley Airline Seat Specification give you? The automaker says that not only can the new seat perfect your posture, but it can also keep your backside at the ideal temperature and eliminate pressure points as you sit. Bentley says that it can even cool a fever. Does this mean we can bill one to our health insurance company?
First Class Without the TSA
The Airline Seat Specification comes as an option, fitted to the rear of the Bentley Bentayga EWB. That’s Bentley for Extended Wheelbase, the even bigger Bentayga.
Bentley calls the seat the most advanced seat ever fitted to a car. We call it far more impressive than any airline seat we’ve ever sat in — or even heard about before.
Comfort starts with 22 ways of power adjustment. You’ll find the usual angle and cushion adjustments, but the system goes far beyond that. Bentley partnered with Comfort Motion Global, a company that works with airlines, trucking companies, and now luxury automakers to develop better seating technology with medical trials.
Postural Adjustment Flattens Pressure Points
The Postural Adjustment system uses pneumatic chambers offering three-dimensional twist and adjustment that can relieve pressure points all over your body. They were designed along with a chiropractor that Bentley says deals with the discomfort of long car journeys.
It can make 177 individual pressure changes across six independent zones and does so over a 3-hour period. The subtle changes are designed to make crossing continents as comfortable as possible. It probably helps that you’re in the back seat and not driving, too.
More than just reducing pressure points, the seat moves them around, so your body can recover naturally. Bentley says this means less fatigue. Tiny changes in your back and limb angles increase blood flow, once again reducing discomfort and increasing passenger alertness.
Different body types are covered by the adjustable profiles. Leg and footrest adjustment features let you find the comfort spot ideal for you, with electric cushion adjustment, headrest adjustment, and the ability to move the front passenger seat forward. All this helps let nearly anyone get cozy.
Incredibly Detailed Climate Control
We mentioned the climate control system up top, and it is truly impressive. Sensors across the seating surface monitor the temperature with an accuracy of 0.1 degrees Celsius. Bentley says the human body can only detect surface temperature changes between 1 and 2 degrees. Measurements and adjustments taking place every 25 milliseconds make sure the system compensates before you even notice an issue.
A new fan that can move 80% more air than before is part of the system. It works to reach the desired temperature as quickly as possible and then backs off to operate unobtrusively.
Rather using than a temperature setting, Bentley has seven set points with a neutral zero position, and then ±3. The automaker says 75-80% of people will use the neutral point permanently, and that it was set using multiple occupants and environments finding what worked best and in what conditions.
It will warm or cool you automatically. And 15-20% will use ±1 — those who are naturally looking for warmer or cooler settings.
Bentley expects ±2 to be used for short periods on specific days. Think +2 for warming relief of back pain and, Bentley suggests, -2 “when a passenger is feeling ill and wants an unnaturally cooler condition.” And ±3 is expected to be used only “in cases of extreme climate conditions or illness.” That’s the one for when you’ve got a fever.
More Than Half of Buyers Opt for Seat
Each seat takes 12 electric motors and three pneumatic valve control units along with a master ECU. It’s been a popular option so far, and Bentley says that half of Bentayga EWB buyers have opted for it. How much does it cost? As with most of the brand’s pricing, you’ll have to ask its dealers.
