A Systematic Review of Driver Ingress and Egress Using Passenger Vehicles: Considerations for Designers

Identifying ingress and egress strategies is an important area of research in the automotive sector. Determining ingress and egress strategies can lead to safer vehicle design that reduce fall risk and improve comfort. In this systematic review, we examined studies related to ingress and egress in passenger vehicles after searching for various databases. We found 9 primary articles (of 608), all published in English. The results of the present research synthesis show that participants reported challenges with doorway height, sill height during ingress and egress, as well as will width during egress. There are also various ingress and egress strategies employed by drivers. However, ingress and egress strategies did not differ significantly by sample characteristics (i.e., age, height) or vehicle type. Roof height was not a factor of ingress and egress strategies although a large sill width may increase the risk of adverse events during egress. Future studies need to incorporate larger and more heterogeneous samples (i.e., healthy versus non-healthy, younger versus older adults) and relate participant characteristics (i.e., age, gender, height, weight) and the use of hands (along with force measurements) with ingress and egress strategies. Additionally, changes in vehicle design should be modelled with comfort ratings using metrics and loss functions to determine the optimal point between comfort and safety. This is the first review of the ingress and egress literature to summarize important findings and provide directions for future research.