A human-centred approach to the design and evaluation of automotive seat adjustment controls

This paper considers the design of seat adjustment controls in the premium sports utility vehicle sector, and takes a human-centred approach to collecting both positive and negative data regarding existing controls on a number of vehicles. The research draws on sensory science techniques and attempts to apply them in an automotive engineering arena, addressing in particular affective elements of seat adjustment control design. To achieve this, a one-hundred participant customer clinic event was held, with additional data sourced from an industrystandard, commercial survey. The data sets are analysed and compared in order to draw conclusions and make design recommendations relating to the functional and emotional aspects of seat adjustment control design. The findings from this research identify key factors resulting in both positive and negative user experiences for the vehicles selected for the study. In addition, comparisons with, and limitations of, commercial survey data are explored.