Seated Posture of Vehicle Occupants

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Seated Posture of Vehicle Occupants

Robbins, D. H. / Schneider, L. W. / Pflug, M. / Haffner, Mark / Snyder, R. G.

This paper describes the methodology and results from a project involving development of anthropometrically based design specifications for a family of advanced adult anthropomorphic dummies. Selection of family members and anthropometric criteria for subject sample selection were based on expected applications of the devices and on an analysis of U.S. population survey data. This resulted in collection of data for dummy sizes including a small female, a mid-sized male, and a large male.The three phases of data collection included: 1. in-vehicle measurements to determine seat track position and seating posture preferred by the subjects for use in development of laboratory seat bucks; 2. measurement of subject/seat interface contours for fabrication of an average hard seat surface for use in the buck; and 3. measurement of standard anthropometry, seated anthropometry (in the buck), and three-dimensional surface landmark coordinates using standard and photogrammetric techniques.Following data collection, activity was concentrated on data analysis and development of specifications. Data for each subject group were averaged for use in development of two reference resources. One is an epoxy/fiberglass standard reference shell positioned in the average hard seat. The other is an anthropometric specification package consisting of full-size drawings detailing estimates of body linkage, mass, and segmentation data. Final results are presented for the mid-sized male population group.