A Methodology for Evaluating Barriers and Aids to Vehicle Ingress/Egress

A methodology for evaluating aids and barriers to vehicle Ingress/Egress (I/E) was developed to assess subject performance with prototype features designed to improve I/E. The measures used included Perceived User Difficulty, Total Time to perform a task, and Observed Body Movements identified during video analysis of the I/E tasks. The observed movements included foot/door interference, movement discontinuity, trunk rocking, and upper extremity usage. Pilot testing of this methodology showed that subjective and objective user preference and performance data could be measured and that this information provided a more complete understanding of the problems associated with specific prototype solutions.