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One of the most important aspects of seat design is seat comfort. A purely subjective measure of comfort, however, is not very useful to designers. Methods for providing objective measures run up against problems of accuracy, repeatability, and problems associated with interfering with the interface that is actually being assessed. The authors outline a technique to provide objective measurement of the seat/subject interface. This allows a graphic and at the same time quantifiable method for presenting the performance of the seat. This should provide useful data to the designer at an earlier and more useful stage of the seat design process.

The study investigated drivers' subjective responses to driving cars fitted with wired screens, and undertook laboratory tests of visibility under night-time driving conditions to examine any effects due to reflection/diffraction by the wires of light from on-coming headlamps, and any effects due to light transmission and obscuration under daytime reduced visibility (fog and snow). FINDINGS - (a) After 2 hours driving only 6 out of 20 drivers had noticed the wires, (b) Only 1 driver complained of reduced visibility due to the wires, (c) Only 2 out of the 20 drivers said the visual effects of the wires would negatively effect their purchase decision, (d) The wires in the windscreen did not cause visual discomfort, (e) The laboratory tests found no significant reduction in visibility for either night-time or fog conditions.