Measurement of sensory and cultural influences on haptic quality perception of vehicle interiors

The success of today’s products is no longer only determined by their technical superiority, but especially by subjective factors, such as the perceived quality. For several years now, this trend has been also present in the automotive industry. Currently, the perceived quality is one of the most important purchasing criteria, which is strongly influenced by visual and haptic perception, as well as culture. In order to improve the customers' percepeption of car interiors and to support the communication between the automotive manufacturers and their suppliers, it is crucial to implement measurement methodologies, which can quantify the customer perceived quality through measurement values. Therefore, the goal of this thesis is the development of robust measurement methodologies, which can reliably determine the haptic perceived quality of car interiors by taking cultural influences into account. The methodologies have to be non-destructive and applicable inside the laboratory as well as inside the car. To identify influences on the perception of haptic quality characteristics, customer clinics are conducted and their outcome is statistically analyzed. By taking physical and psychophysical laws into consideration, the subjective evaluations are correlated with objective measurement values and appropriate transfer functions are established. Additionally, cultural differences in perception are retrieved from two international customer studies and their influence on the development of global cars is assessed.