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Use of safety belts inside a vehicle is necessary to ensure the safety of passengers as well as drivers. To promote the use of seat belts, a seatbelt reminder system is utilized. This system incorporates a sensor for checking seat occupancy for the passenger seat. Activation of these sensors depends on various parameters like seat pad shape, seat upholstery, vehicle H-point, a load on the seat, etc. In this study, the load factor on the seat is studied. The load on the seat may come from occupants or due to the objects placed on the seat. The detection of objects as an occupant may result in false seat belt reminder alarm and cause inconvenience to the customers. Subjective analysis and surveys, covering a broad range of market population, were done to identify such objects. Consequently, performance requirements were determined to facilitate sensor optimization and selection.

The seating system is an inseparable part of any automobile. Its main function is not only to provide a space to the user for driving but also to provide support, comfort and help to ergonomically access the various features and necessary operations of the vehicle. For comfort and accessibility, seats are provided with various mechanisms for adjustments in different directions. Typical mechanisms used for seating adjustment include seatback recliners, lifters (height adjusters), longitudinal adjusters, lumber support, rear seat folding mechanism etc. These mechanisms can be power operated or manual based on vehicle/market requirements. For manual mechanisms, the occupant adjusts the position of seat by operating the mechanism with his/her hand. Often comfort to the occupant during operation is limited to the operating effort of the mechanism. However, as will be shown through this study, operating effort is only one of the parameters which provide overall comfort feeling.