First Stage of Automotive Concept Design; Driver Positions (H-Point)

Abstract

For drivers with different anatomical features in the use of vehicles, the seat-ing position includes many important variable parameters from safety to comfort, from cost to customer preferences, from vehicle class to vehicle en-try-exit. In addition, the driver’s height from the ground or the driver’s standing position (H-Point), which is included in the initial decisions of the automotive concept design stages, constitutes the anatomy and structure of the vehicle, together with many ergonomic setups from vehicle class to vehicle weight, from view to wind resistance. Taking part in the initial decisions of the automotive concept design stages; driver’s ground clearance or driver’s standing position (H-Point): from vehicle class to vehicle weight, from visi-bility to wind resistance along with many ergonomic installations, it creates the vehicle anatomy and structure. Therefore, within the discipline of auto-motive design, the vehicle structure and character are determined by the driver’s position, the h-point (the driver’s seat height from the ground and the seat angle). In the automotive concept design flow, ergonomic decision and analysis methods determine the vehicle design process and the structural proportion of the vehicle, as well as direct the vehicle analysis and studies. The ergonomic decision in question creates important relations that increase efficiency in the structural model of the vehicle, together with the problems that affect the resource use of the entire new product development process, the project structure and time. Ergonomics science due to increasing inter-disciplinary efficiency, has become a common field of study for many discip-lines such as anatomy, medicine, psychology and physiology, especially in-dustrial design, automotive concept design, industrial design engineering. Therefore, the angle of view, the steering wheel diameter or the ergonomics of use of the instrument panel functions, which are affected by the driver’s position in the research results, constitute the safety elements in vehicle driv-ing. The automotive industry is one of the areas where ergonomic designs are most needed. In addition to affecting safe driving, non-ergonomic vehicle de-signs can cause many fundamental variables, from discomfort to the driver’s musculoskeletal system to vehicle accidents. In order to show the expected driver usage performance from the designed vehicles, analyzing the driver’s position or driving positions with the help of computer aided programs has important results.