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Objective: This study aims to identify ergonomic evaluation and user preference for automotive column gear shifters and provide ergonomic design guidelines for their improvement.
Background: Column gear shifters, a type of electronic transmission, offer superior space efficiency and intuitive usability compared to traditional stick-type, dial-type, and button-type shifters. Despite these advantages, multiple variations exist, including basic column-type and dial-type column shifters. Additionally, gear arrangement orders, such as R-N-D and D-N-R, differ across models. These diverse layouts have caused driver complaints and operational errors. To address these issues, ergonomic design improvements for column gear shifters are essential.
Method: This study examined the design of column gear shifters, considering gear shifter types (basic, rotary, button), gear arrangement orders (D-N-R, R-N-D), and gear shifter positions (right, left). Participants were grouped according to their driving experience and evaluated the usability of the gear shifter types, arrangement orders, and positions. Evaluation criteria included accuracy, convenience, rapidity, learnability, intuitiveness, memorability, safety, and satisfaction. Finally, participants identified their most preferred layout after completing the evaluation.
Results: The results showed a significant preference for basic or rotary-type gear shifters. The preferred gear arrangement was D-N-R, and the right-side position was favored for the gear shifter. The most preferred layout included a basic or rotary-type column gear shifter, a D-N-R arrangement, and a right-side position. No significant differences were observed based on driving experience.
Conclusion: This study derived ergonomic design guidelines for column gear shifters, demonstrating that the design reflects drivers' preferences better than traditional gear shifters.
Application: The preferred layout of column gear shifters identified in this study, which reflects drivers' preferences, helps prevent safety issues and accidents caused by operational errors in existing designs. These findings can also serve as ergonomic design guidelines for other types of gear shifter systems, such as lever-, button-, and dial-based configurations.