Occupant packaging is one of the key tasks involved in the early architectural
phase of a vehicle. Accommodation, as a convention, is generally considered
related to a car’s interior. Typical roominess metrics of the occupant like hip
room, shoulder room, and elbow room are defined with the door in its closed
condition. Several other roominess metrics like knee room, leg room, head room,
and the like are also specified. While all the guidelines are defined with doors
in their closed condition, it is also important to consider the dynamics that
exist while the occupant is entering the vehicle. This article expands the
traditional understanding of occupant accommodation beyond conventionally
considering the vehicle interior’s ability to accommodate anthropometry. It
broadens the scope to include dynamic conditions, such as when doors are opened,
providing a more realistic and practical perspective. As a luxury car
manufacturer, it is important to ensure the best overall customer experience at
each touch point of the vehicle. When the customer enters the vehicle, there
should be sufficient space provided by the door opening angle for a comfortable
entry. The larger the opening angle, the better is the “entry accommodation” and
vice versa. However, a wide-open door also necessitates the customer to bend
more, after being seated, to reach its handle and close it. Thus, it becomes a
compromise between what is possible as accommodation while the customer is
entering the vehicle and how easy it is to close the door after being seated.
The same logic holds good while the customer opens the door and exits the
vehicle. This article aims to develop a customer loss function (CLF) between the
two conflicting criteria by considering relevant anthropometric distribution of
customers. This study focuses on driver compartment and the methodology
developed is also pertinent to rear compartment with minor adaptations. Since
driver’s seating position is heavily dependent on anthropometry, finer details
of occupant seating position are also considered in this study. CLF developed in
this article will help the designer and packaging engineers in making informed
decisions on the door opening angle, by being conscious of the customer
loss/gain for defined performance metrics.
