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For cost reasons, passenger cars sold in moderate climatic zones frequently come without factory-installed air conditioning. Therefore, the temperatures in the vehicle occupant compartment may rise above the thermal comfort range during hot summer months. In order to provide for a maximum of thermal comfort under those circumstances, occupant compartment ventilation should satisfy certain clearly defined requirements. The paper submits the physiological rationale and a concrete description of these requirements. A special method, the so-called isotach method, was developed in order to permit a quantitative determination of the vehicle occupant cell air flow and to verify compliance with the air flow requirements. The isotach method is used to measure the air flow distribution in a lateral cross section of the vehicle occupant compartment front section. The method is described and explained.