ABSTRACT
Designing an automotive product such as a car or truck involves the integration of inputs from many disciplines (e.g., designers, body engineers, chassis engineers, powertrain engineers, manufacturing engineers, product planners, market researchers, ergonomics engineers, electronics engineers). The design activities are driven by the intricate coordination and simultaneous consideration of many requirements (e.g., customer requirements, engineering functional requirements, business requirements, government regulatory requirements, manufacturing requirements) and trade-offs between the requirements of different systems in the vehicle. The systems should not only function well, but they must also satisfy the customers who purchase and use the products. The ›eld of ergonomics or human factors engineering in the automotive product development involves working with many different vehicle design teams (e.g., management teams, exterior design teams, interior design teams, package engineering teams, instrument panel teams, seat design teams) to assure that all important ergonomic requirements and issues are considered at the earliest time and resolved to accommodate the needs of the users (i.e., the drivers, passengers, personnel involved in assembly, maintenance, service) while using (or working on) the vehicle.
