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Contributor
Leifer, Jack (Faculty Mentor, Trinity University)
Digital Publisher
Digital Commons at St. Mary's University
Publication Date
Spring 2026
Keywords
Automobiles, Cars, Vehicle Seat, Body Positions
Description
Some crash investigators have assumed that different people having the same stature and gender will reliably choose the same (or a similar) seat adjustments each time they sit in a specific make and model of automobile [Lee]. Knowledge of how a person sits in an automobile is important, because position and seat adjustment can have a significant influence on the way force is distributed throughout a human body during a collision, as they move relative to the vehicle and then contact various components within the interior [West]. However, conclusions reached from such exemplar studies depend on whether assuming that similar-sized people sit and adjust their seat in the same way in the same vehicle is correct. To further assess the variability in how people sit in vehicles, a technique called photogrammetry was used to measure chosen seat adjustment (seatback angle, cushion height and horizontal position) and corresponding seated position using a variety of volunteers recruited to sit multiple times in the passenger and driver seat of two different vehicles. Photogrammetry, a method of obtaining accurate three-dimensional measurements of objects using multiple photographs containing fixed reference points, was chosen as an efficient and non-obtrusive method to document both seat position as well as occupant position within their seat. Photogrammetry has been used for decades in multiple fields to obtain non-contact 3D measurements of object shape.
Format
Size
1 poster
City
San Antonio, Texas
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.