title: The influence of car-seat design on its character experience.
abstract: Producing higher efficiency cars with less and lighter materials but without compromising safety, comfort and driving pleasure might give a competitive advantage. In this light, at BMW a new light weight car-seat concept was developed based on the human body contour. A possibility to increase the comfort is using a seat which elicits positive tactile experiences. However, limited information is available on seat characteristics and tactile experiences. Therefore, this study describes the contour of three different car-seat designs, including a light weight seat, and the recorded corresponding emotion and tactile experience of 21 persons sitting in the seats. Results show that the new light weight car-seat concept rated well on experienced relaxedness, even with the lack of a side support. The most important findings are that hard seats with rather high side supports are rated sporty and seats that are softer are rated more luxurious.
authors: BMW AG Forschungs- und Innovationszentrum, Knorrstrasse 147, D-80788 München, Germany. Irene.Kamp@bmw.de
authors: Irene
authors: I
authors: Kamp
mesh_terms: D001334:Automobile Driving; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010146:Pain / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology