21. Perceived Comfort of Car Seats: A Research Methodology to Visual Cues Evaluation

“The automotive industry is transitioning toward a more digital future. Not just in the form of digitalization of the product itself but also in the process of customer interaction, e.g., during product selection. These trends facilitate advanced manufacturing processes as well as new product designs. The interaction with design also includes an online buying experience, where customers explore and purchase a car with a digital reference to a physical vehicle. Research on customers’ perception of car seat comfort is limited. To better understand customer preferences related to the perceived comfort of car seats, we applied a visual appearance study by presenting exclusively digital information for physical components. In this study, we reflect on the visual appearance of the driver seats for entry segment car market vehicles, such as Opel Corsa, Renault Clio, Toyota Aygo, Fiat 500, and Ford Fiesta. We used the Geely Haoyue driver seat as a control point because of its premium quality and execution. To fulfill the study’s objectives, we implemented a quantitative survey with 164 respondents from Germany and Sweden. According to our hypothesis, respondents should be able to understand car seat features related to comfort just by looking at them.