Auto Seat Design For Comfort And Speed To Market

Auto seat design for comfort and speed to market

ERL LLCJanuary 27, 2011

GM CEO Dan Akerson wants to speed up

vehicle development!

Can vehicle development speed up using a classical

industrial design iteration process and

1960’s tool for seats?

OEM’s Design

The Speed Dilemma!

Patents: US #6,840,125, US #7,047,831, US #7,347,114, US #7,797,138, EU #1019693 & Patents Pending

OEM’s Design

Production Car

The Speed Dilemma!

OEM’s Design

Production Car

The Speed Dilemma!Suppliers

develop seat!

January February March April

May June July August

September October November December

January February March April

May June July August

September October November December

Process requires 24+ months for seat supplier

to design & develop seat!

Why does the Supplier, not the OEM, design the seat?

Process has always lacked tools, and tools first developed in 1960s have been incorporated in industry standards and government regulations.

The Culture

Today, OEM says, “Supplier, here’s design position, build a seat, we will

test it.”

Interiors begin at OEM with design position and no

“Oscar” in Design Position

What does Design Position definein the interior architecture for the seat?

‣ Seating Reference Point: Oscar’s “hip”

‣ Oscar’s Back Angle

‣ Seat Travel (fore-aft, up-down, tilt)

‣ Controls position and travel

‣ Head Restraint & vision “eyellipse”

Where’s the seat?

First prototype seat is built for design position represented by Oscar and

experience!

OEM Seat Supplier

Supplier’s seat is installed in OEM’s “mule” and drivers

evaluate comfort!

OEM Seat Supplier

Iterations begin!

First Iteratio

OEM & Supplier

H-pt Test

Driver Comfort Test

Iterations continue until OEM’s requirements are

5+ Iteratio

OEM & Supplier

H-pt Test

Driver Comfort Test

The Culture: iterative design process develops

ductio

Design Iteration

OEM Seat Supplier

The Seat: To improve,consumer speaks but who

learns?

ductio

OEM Supplier

Sales VolumeJ. D. PowerConsumer Reports

Consumer

Lessons Lost: Circular logic & lengthy manual process repeats

itself in Seats!

OEM Consumer

3+ Years

Physical Iterations are:

Seat Design, world-wide, follows the same iterative

process.

Expensive

process.

Expensive

Unreliable

process.

Expensive

Unreliable

Difficult for process to learn lessons

Culture change is hard & painful!!!

Change occurs when VALUE ($) > PAIN

Examples of Need to Change Process

Analysis shows process is unreliable for many drivers

Can one seat comfortably fit all body sizes?

04/12/202333

The process, worldwide, fails to meet 7.5 comfort score for small female

(SF) drivers.

Seating Comfort by Manufacturer

The process, in Europe, fails to meet 7.5 comfort score for small female

(SF) drivers.

Europe

The process, in the US, fails to meet 7.5 comfort score for small female

(SF) drivers.

Europe

The process, in Japan, struggles to stay above 7.5 score for SF & Large

Male drivers.

Europe

US Japan

Production Seat: Can OEM know this before seat is

built?Driver says:

“cushion - a little long”

ERL Patents: US #6,840,125, US#7,047,831, US#7,347,114, US #7,797,138, EU #1019693 & Patents Pending

Driver says:

“head rest - a little hard to move, orientation bad”

ERL Patents: US #6,840,125, US #7,047,831, US #7,347,114, US #7,797,138, EU #1019693 & Patents Pending

built?

Driver says:

“too close to steering wheel”

built?

built?Driver says:

“too close to steering wheel”

“back rest lateral too low and are pushing my arms”

Driver Score 7.0/10.0

Design Position Error:Seat height was too high for small females.

Original Design Position

Heel didn’t touch floor.

In process, seat heightwas corrected but in development process,

seat length, head restraint and wings were not.

Production Vehicle

Head restraints and frames can create discomfort for shorter

drivers (up to 60% female and 25% male drivers).

Math comfort scores show inconsistency in cars

for small, average, and large drivers.

Range of Math Comfort ScoresTotal

VehicleSmall

FemaleAverage

Male Large Male

Ave. 8.7 6.9 9.0 8.0

Pontiac G6 7.7

Chrysler T&C 4.7

Pontiac G6 7.9

Toyota Prius 6.5

Best Cadillac CTS 9.3

BMW 5308.3

Cadillac CTS 9.7

Buick LaCrosse

Math comfort scores show inconsistency in cars

for small, average, and large drivers.Range of Math Comfort Scores

Total Vehicle

Small Female

Average Male Large Male

Ave. 8.7 6.9 9.0 8.0

Pontiac G6 7.7

Chrysler T&C 4.7

Pontiac G6 7.9

Toyota Prius 6.5

Best Cadillac CTS 9.3

BMW 5308.3

Cadillac CTS 9.7

Buick LaCrosse

8.9Math scores accurately predict subjective scores with correlation of 0.8.

The Goals: reduce cost and time & increase comfort for

all driversChange process to meet these goals with virtual seat design

“I’d like to understand why {vehicle X} just feels so “totally right” the minute you slip into the seat, get feet on pedals, and grab the wheel.”

Bob Lutz – Retired Vice Chairman of General Motors

In 2003,

Virtual seat design optimizes “totally right” for all drivers to shorten development time and reduce expenses for the manufacturer.

In virtual seat design, OEM says, “Supplier, here

are the specs, build the seat!”

The seat is as essential as the steering wheel and needs to be an integral part of the data that define the interior of the car!

Virtual seat design changes development

from iterations to specifications.

ductio

Supplier

Specifications

One seat for all! Improve smallfemale “totally right” feeling by 58%.

Production Score = 4.8 ERL Virtual Score = 7.6

Reality Check: does production miss“totally right” for small female driver?

One seat for all! Improve large male “totally right” feeling by 20%.

Production Score = 7.4 ERL Virtual Score = 8.9

Reality Check: does production miss“totally right” for large male driver?

1. Population: Drivers

Seat design &development optimizes:

2. Seat: Biomechanics & Comfort

3. Ergonomics: Driving Task

Population: Small drivers prefer aneutral posture but Vision is a problem.

Erect (E)

Neutral (N)

Slumped (S)

Small Female (5th %)

Vision

Population: Medium drivers prefer a neutral posture but seat shape is a

problem.

Erect (E)

Neutral (N)

Slumped (S)

Vision

Medium Male (50th

Controls Reach

Population: Large drivers prefer a neutral posture but legroom is a

problem.

Erect (E)

Neutral (N)

Slumped (S)

Vision

Large Male (95th %)

Legroom

Medium Male (50th

Controls Reach

Oscar (SAE J826) represents one driver in the global

population.

Small Indian Woman

Large American Male

The iterative seat design process struggles to optimize drivers’ needs in one seat for all drivers.

Seat: 3 critical regions for drivers.

Head Restraint for Safety Regulations creates slumped posture.

Head Restraint for Safety Regulations creates slumped posture.Biteline pushes

driver into slumped posture.

Head Restraint for Safety Regulations creates slumped posture.Biteline pushes driver

into slumped posture.

Seat length for tall and short drivers.

Lumbar

Buttocks

ERL Seat Design supports same four regions in every

driver’s body.

Load-Bearing Regions

Seat Contact Regions

Top of Seatback

Bottom of Seatback

Head Restraint

End of Cushion

ERL Seat Design contacts every

driver’s body in four sitting areas.

Load-Bearing Region in Seat Seat Contact Region in Seat

Top of Seatback

Lumbar

Bottom of Seatback

Buttocks

Head Restraint

End of Cushion

ERL Seat: Same biomechanical

sitting objectives for all drivers.

Small Female

Large Male

Ergonomics: Objective variables must

be designed “totally right” for all drivers.Large

Slumped Male

Head Restraint for 202a

Small Erect Female Large Slumped

Track Angle & Seat

Position

Line of Sight

Right/Left Hand Reach Curves

Virtual Design: calculate “totally right”

fit for all drivers in 142 controls variables!

Controls Package Seat Driver & PassengersDesign Position & Track Material Properties (Stiffness) Population (Small to Large)

Seat Travel Windows Seat Shape: Centerline & Wings Joint Angles (Comfort)

Mirror & Headliner Adjustable Head Restraint & Lumbar

Seat Support (Biomechanics)

Accelerator Meat-to-Metal & Manufacturability Controls: Reach

Steering Wheel Frame: Size, Adjusters & Recliners Vision: Line of Sight

142 Variables 440 Variables 268 VariablesERL Patents: US #6,840,125, US#7,047,831, US#7,347,114, US# 7,797,138, EU #1019693 & Patents Pending

fit for all drivers in 440 seat variables!

fit for all drivers in 268 driver variables!

Virtual Design mathematically fits 4744 dimensions for all drivers in 850

variables!

Since the iterative process works and is used by all manufacturers, why change?

Value of Virtual Seat Design outweighs the cost of change!Months faster time-to-market.

Design one seat in each vehicle for all drivers to feel “totally right.”

Engineers and designers collaborate with objective and verifiable math data.

Tools retain lessons learned for engineers and designers at OEM and Supplier.

OEM’s CarSupplier’s Seat

ERL Patents: US #6,840,125, US#7,047,831, US#7,347,114, US# 7,797,138, EU #1019693 & Patents Pending

ERL’s Virtual Seat Design brings them together!

Thanks for your time!

Comments & Inquiries Appreciated.reynolds@erlllc.com

Auto Seat Design For Comfort And Speed To Market

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