Using Anthropometric Data to Improve Seat Back Comfort in Current and Future Passenger Car Seats

Comfort in automotive seating is greatly influenced by posture. Back contours that reflect the actual postures of seated people have been developed by researchers at Michigan State University (MSU).

This new data on seating postures has been interpreted to aid the development of automobile seat backs, enhancing the comfort of the seats. However, applying new contours to seats with current frame and structure designs creates problems of accurately and repeatably determining H-point compliance with the SAE 3D H-point machine. Consequently, a new seat back has been designed that accomplishes both improved comfort without sacrificing the accurate measurement of H-point.