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A study was conducted to rank 34 ergonomic characteristics of automobiles by their degree of importance to older and younger drivers. The older drivers were students in AARP driver education classes; the younger drivers were students in university classes. Three geographic locations were sampled. The primary variable analyzed was age, but geographic location, gender, driving experience, and use of glasses were also investigated. Of the characteristics that were found to be of more than average importance to older drivers, seven were appreciably more important to older drivers than to younger drivers with the “control of glare light” being the most dominant.

This study assesses the understanding and recognition, by U.S. drivers, of the 25 automotive ISO symbols specified in SAE Standard J1048. A two-part survey was administered to 505 volunteers at a Secretary of State's office located in a Detroit suburb. Percentage results for symbol understanding indicated low levels of understanding for many symbols; percentage results for symbol recognition were generally much higher for all symbols. The effects of gender, age, and education level on the percentage results are summarized.

A Headlight Evaluation Model has been developed which provides a broader and more comprehensive method for characterizing the performance of headlamps than is possible in traditional headlight seeing distance field tests. The Headlamp Evaluation Model accepts as input the candlepower patterns of the headlamp system being evaluated and provides a measure of driver visual performance based on a large number of simulated seeing distance tests and glare discomfort checks on a standardized test route. The output of the Model, termed the Figure of Merit, is the percentage of the distance traveled by the simulated driver on the standardized test route in which the seeing distance to pedestrians and pavement lines, and the discomfort glare levels experienced by opposing drivers, simultaneously meet certain acceptance criteria.