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A new method has been designed to examine car seats by technical means only, whether they fit summer conditions or not. Test procedures start with the application of a carefully wetted cloth onto the seat to be examined. The test area is then covered by a temperature controlled, electrically heated solid body bloc. This simulates the body temperature and the seat pressure of a real seat user. During test periods of standard three hours, temperature and humidity is measured beneath the test device and in the surrounding air. As an effect of the water impulse the humidity increases under the body bloc. It has been proved that good summer suitability of a car seat is characterised by moderate amount and moderate duration of increased humidity readings. Poor suitability results in higher amount and longer duration of raised humidity. The method is shown to be useful to examine full scale car seats, child safety seats and single design characteristics of car seats as well.

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.