Influence of car seat design on drivers' fatigue

• Main Author: Ho, Ben Songyu
• Other Authors: School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/60161
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Fatigue while driving can be associated with sitting discomfort; hence the car seat design plays an important role in the development of driver fatigue and the perception of vehicle comfort. The aim of the project is to determine how the car seat design contours affect the discomfort of the driver, thus influencing the driver’s fatigue while driving for long periods of time, of about 2 hours in a Singapore context. A total of 10 participants (4 females and 6 males) of age between 19 years old to 25 years old volunteered to take part in the experiment. A within subject experiment will be done with 3 different car seats (car seat A, C and E). Both subjective and objective measurements were used in the experiment. Pre- and post-surveys were also completed by the participants to record their fatigue and discomfort level. Participants found car seat E the most comfortable, followed by car seat A and C respectively. The most common area of discomfort was the neck and shoulder, as well as the lower back area. These findings will allow improvements to be made and hence the development of car seat prototypes which are associated with the least driver fatigue.