Biomechanical Discomfort Factors in Egress of Older Drivers

INTRODUCTION In order to identify and quantify various biomechanical factors that affect discomfort in ingress/egress motions of older people, we performed an experimental study by employing eight healthy elderly volunteers. The ingress and egress motions in SUV mockup was captured by 12 infrared cameras for the kinematic analysis. An assistance device was designed to give some variations in the access motions. A bar-type handle was placed at the lower part of B-pillar to provide an additional support on the left arm of the driver at the early stage of the egress motion. The volunteers were normally free to choose their own ingress/egress strategies but were required to use assistant devices for the requested cases. In this paper, the results of the kinematic analysis using a digital human model with reconstructed egress motions are introduced. The joint angle changes of lower limbs showed statistical correlations with egress motion discomfort ratings.