A scale for assessing comfortability of car seats. The method description includes the steps to develop the scale, which are applicable for various other domains as well.
Development of seats in the automotive industry is expensive. Physical prototypes with adequate functionalities are required to carry out tests and evaluations, which are to a great extent devoted to improve the ergonomic features in order to reduce discomfort
The underlying problem is that the terms
The collection of comfort factors and the process of reducing the collection of factors are critical in order to obtain factors that are relevant for the type of seat and for the sample of representative seat users. Moreover, it is important to secure that the evaluated seats fulfill the basic and the ergonomic/biomechanical criteria.
NB! It is important to keep in mind that this method does not replace research and evaluations for improved ergonomic/biomechanical features of seats.
Helander, M.G., Zhang, L. 2001. Forget about Ergonomics in Chair Design? Focus on Aesthetics and Comfort!, Proceedings of The International Conference on Affective Human Factors Design, Asean Academic Press, London.
Helander, M. G. and Zhang, L. 1997. Field studies of comfort and discomfort in sitting, Ergonomics, vol. 40, no. 9, pp. 895-915. Sohlman, H. and Staaf, H. (2006) Subjective Evaluations of Seat Comfort, identifying factors of comfort and discomfort in truck seats, Master thesis, Linko?ping university, Sweden
