Reliability and Validity of an Automobile Seat Comfort Survey

The automotive seating industry will always be interested in understanding what the end-consumer expects and wants in terms of comfort. Even in the face of a movement towards comfort quantification through various measurement technologies, surveys are, and will always be, the best way to understand comfort. With this said, it is surprising that the published seat comfort research does not provide a standard survey demonstrated to be reliable and valid. Based on the fact that seat comfort development relies so heavily on subjective data, one would think that, in order to make design decisions with minimal risk, a reliable and valid survey is a prerequisite. This paper’s contribution is significant in that it provides a survey with acceptable test-retest reliability, internal consistency, criterion-related validity, and construct validity. It also details a more suitable approach to data analysis that should markedly improve the process of designing a comfortable seat.