Abstract

The automotive interior is characterized as a confined workspace into which the occupants are required to adapt in order to perform the normal driving and vehicular control tasks. As part of the interface between the driver and the automobile, the automotive seat must provide the occupant with a comfortable environment in which driving can be performed in a safe and comfortable manner. Prolonged exposure to excessive loading on the body in the seated position is related to discomfort and pain. Seating comfort has been found to be a complex function of the occupant anthropometry, the seated posture and many seat design factors. The characterization of the interactions between the occupant and the seat under various conditions thus constitutes an important goal for enhancing the knowledge of essential design factors that could yield improved seating comfort. The occupant-seat interactions are investigated through measurement and analysis of the generalized and distributed contact forces and pressures at the body-seat-pan and body-backrest interfaces of a total of three different automotive seats. The contact force, contact area, and peak and mean pressure responses are analyzed as a function of the occupant anthropometry, the seated posture and the seat design features. Single and multi-factor statistical analyses are performed for the response data to identify the significance of the experimental factors considered in this study