The new seats gracing the floor pans in the 2014 Corvette Stingray C7->ke4579 answer perhaps the largest complaint lodged against the outgoing C6 Corvette. Those seats were nearly flat, lacking anything that remotely looked like side bolsters and were constructed of a flimsy plastic backing that did little to support the occupants during hard cornering. Adding to the problem, the old C6 seats would flop forward under heavy braking whether it was occupied or not.

Chevrolet->ke199 stepped to the plate with not one, but two seat options in the new Vette. Both seats are tailored for different driving styles and owner preferences.

The Standard GT seat is geared towards the everyday driver; the guy who carves more canyon roads than hairpin corners at the racetrack each weekend. The Competition Sport seat, on the other hand, is more suited for what its name implies. Engineers started from scratch with both seats and used extensive testing to create two industry standard seats fitting of the C7’s new performance levels.

Click below for more info and a video on the Stingray’s new seats

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For the Competition Sport seat, the Corvette team used pressure-mapping technology to precisely map where and how the driver’s body contacted the seat during high-velocity movements. The pressure pads gathered more than 4,600 data points per second as the Vette sped along, sending that information to computers that generated graphic illustrations of how occupants were supported by the seat – both on their bottoms and backs.

Holding all those meticulously crafted foam pads and bolsters in place is an entirely new architecture constructed from cast magnesium. The rigid structure ensures little flexing and no more flopping seat back under heavy braking. Further contributing is the seat’s rigidity is a hardback shell molded from stiff plastic. That plastic backing also adds some fantastic styling details around the headrest in the form of harness strap ports either side of a center C7 Corvette Flag logo.

Though the Standard GT seats are less purpose-built than the Competition Sport seats doesn’t mean less time went into creating them. Still miles ahead of the outgoing C6 seat, the new GT seat gets the same cast magnesium treatment as the Competition seats, although the bolstering is less aggressive the padding is designed for more long-distance comfort. The seat bottom rests directly atop the molded magnesium frame with padding, heating elements, and air passages for the cooling system sandwiched in between.

Our friends at Car & Driver produced a great segment detailing the differences between the outgoing C6 seat and the new Standard GT seats on their YouTube channel. Check out their findings in the video below.

All told, both new seats in the 2014 Stingray are light years ahead of what they replaced. We’re glad General Motors listened to the innumerable amount of complaints the C6 seats received and decided to rectify the problem. Now, along with the other upscale interior adornments, the Corvette can truly compete with its across-the-pond rivals in any head to head challenge not based solely on bang-for-the-buck. America’s sports car is finally world-class.

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