Human-Centered Design and Manufacturing of a Pressure-Profile-Based Pad for Better Car Seat Comfort

A car seat's function is to support, protect, and make passengers and drivers feel comfortable during a trip. A more uniform pressure distribution and a larger contact area usually provide less discomfort. Consequently, the seat pan's material and geometry play an essential role in the design process. A shaped pad was opportunely designed and realized, starting from the pressure distributions between the buttocks and the seat pan; pressure data were acquired during an initial experiment involving 41 people, representing a wide range of percentiles. The shaped pad was compared with a standard one by building a special seat with an interchangeable internal pad and testing the standard and the new seat; the second experiment involved 52 people that tested both seats. The tests were conducted to assess comfort (33 subjects were asked to be seated for 1 min each) and discomfort (19 subjects were asked to be seated for 15 min each); during the tests, pressure distribution and contact area data were gathered. The results showed that, for both tests, about 80% of the participants, among which 100% of the female sample, preferred the shaped seat pan pad. Even if the material was exactly the same, the shaped pad seemed to be softer, more comfortable, and more suited to the body's shape than the standard one. The design methodology was demonstrated to be very useful for granting a more uniform pressure distribution and a wider contact area, i.e., higher comfort and less discomfort.