Thesis-1996-Gyi.pdf (14.19 MB)
Driver discomfort : prevalence, prediction and prevention
thesis
posted on 2017-06-08, 11:40 authored by Diane E. GyiThis research is concerned with exploring the relationship between car driving and
musculoskeletal troubles and following on from this investigating methods which could
aid the automotive industry in the design and evaluation of car seats. The thesis is
divided into two parts.
Part I describes the development and results of an epidemiological survey undertaken
with data obtained from two sample groups. Study 1 was an interview survey (based
on the Nordic Questionnaire) of 600 members of the British public, randomly selected
within the strata of age and gender. Study 2 used the same interview, but with two
carefully chosen groups of police officers (n=200). The results indicated that car
drivers (especially those who drove as part of their job) appeared to be at risk in terms
of reported discomfort and sickness absence due to low back trouble. Evidence from
this and other studies has also indicated that drivers with the most adjustable driving
packages may benefit in terms of both reduced discomfort and reduced sickness
absence. This provided the background for the subsequent research in Part II and some
impetus for car manufacturers to consider health issues in the design of car
workstations.
Part II involved a series of three experiments designed to investigate methodologies
which could be used by manufacturers to predict car seat discomfort The literature
was reviewed to identify suitable predictive techniques which would be robust enough
to provide information to the automotive industry in 'real world' situations. The
technique of interface pressure measurement had already generated interest in some
seat manufacturers and was therefore selected for investigation. As a result of the
findings in experiment 1, established guidelines for a comfortable driving posture may
need to be modified. The other two experiments were designed to create discomfort in
subjects firstly by varying foam hardness and secondly by varying posture. A clear,
simple and consistent relationship between interface pressure and discomfort in
realistic driving situations was not identified. Future studies using this technique
should provide information regarding such factors as gender, the body mass index,
anthropometric data, posture and foam hardness due to the confounding nature of these
variables.
History
School
- Design
Publisher
© Diane E. GyiPublisher statement
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Publication date
1996Notes
A Doctoral Thesis. Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy of Loughborough University.Language
- en