The Method of Evaluating Muscle Strain while Maintaining Sitting Posture during Cornering and Strain Reduction by Seat Improvement

Abstract

Recently, some studies about driver's sitting posture in a car have been pushed forward from the view points of fatigue reduction and easy driving. This study verified that one of the causes of driver's strain was muscle activities when the driver voluntarily kept his/her sitting posture from being disturbed by the external force while cornering. And it was suggested that it was possible to reduce the driver's strain by improvement of seat shape; it was improved using some physiological measurements(electromyogram, heart rate, respiration rate and blood pressure) and behavior observation with image analysis. Furthermore with results of sensory evaluation, it was suggested that supporting sitting posture contributed to easy steering and to embodiment of a car, that creates feeling of unity between the driver or passenger and the car.