An Investigation of Driver Discomfort and Related Seat Design Factors in Extended-Duration Driving

Abstract

A study of automotive seating comfort and related design factors was conducted, utilizing subjective techniques of seat comfort assessment and objective measures of the seat/subject interaction. Eight male subjects evaluated four different test seats during a short-term seating session and throughout a three-hour driving simulation. For the latter, subjects operated a static laboratory driving simulator, performing body-area discomfort evaluations at thirty-minute intervals. Cross-modality matching (CMM), a subjective assessment technique in which a stimulus is rated by matching to the level of another stimulus, was used during the long-term driving simulation to evaluate discomfort. Subject posture, muscle activity in the lower back and abdomen, and pressure levels at key support locations on the seat were monitored. In addition, a sonic digitizing system was used to record seat indentation contours and to characterize the subjects' spinal contours. The rights, welfare, and informed consent of the volunteer subjects who participated in this study were observed under guidelines established by the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare Policy (now Health and Human Services) on Protection of Human Subjects and accomplished under medical research design protocol standards approved by the Committee to Review Grants for Clinical Research and Investigation Involving Human Beings, Medical School, The University of Michigan.

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