Ergonomic Vehicle Design Using an Ergonomic Human Model

A new vehicle design approach coupled with an ergonomic human model was proposed in the study. The seating package layout of a vehicle is very important to the driving comfort, and it has been one of the primary ergonomic research areas since the past 30 years. The diverse and interrelated design factors of seating package layout in the limited workspace make designers often neglect many parameters related with drivers which differ in their anthropometric characteristics. It is due to the lack of the proper tools by which the designer can easily apply several ergonomic design guidelines to the vehicle design. In this study. an iterative package layout procedure was developed, and the effectiveness of an ergonomic human model was examined in this procedure. A discomfort function was developed for the quantitative evaluation of the driving posture. This study clearly demonstrates that the package layout using an ergonomic human model is very helpful to improve the usability and driving comfort of the drivers or passengers.