Influence of the Vehicle Exterior Design on the Individual Driving Style

The individual driving style depends on different influences and is mainly affected by habitual manners, personal attributes and several external factors, such as the vehicle or traffic in general. The vehicle exterior, especially the design, is an essential part in both the vehicle in general and as one important customer requirement. Thus, it is reasonable to assume influences of the exterior vehicle design on the driving style as well. For investigating, whether such an effect occurs a study was conducted. Within different driving parameters, variations of the participants’ driving style were measured, according to the different vehicle exterior designs they were shown. Overall, an influence of different vehicle exterior designs on the individual driving style was statistically proven.