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Over the ages of automotive history, expectations of the customers increases vastly starting from driving comfort, better fuel economy and a safe vehicle. Requirement of good vehicle drivability from customers are increasing without any compromise of fuel economy and vehicle features. To enhance the product, it is a must for every OEM’s to have better drivability to fulfill the needs of the customer. This paper explains Objective Drivability Evaluation done on compact SUV vehicle and comparison with subjective drivability. Vehicle manufacturer usually evaluate drivability based on the subjective assessments of experienced test drivers with a sequence of certain maneuvers. In this study, we have used the objective drivability assessment tool AVL drive to obtain the vehicle drivability rating. The vehicle inputs from the accelerometer sensor which captures the longitudinal acceleration and CAN bus signals such as engine speed, vehicle speed, accelerator pedal, are fed into the software.

Each OEM has a distinguishing drivability character that defines its image in the market to achieve brand differentiation. Drivability is one of the important factors along with fuel economy that determines the success of a vehicle vis-à-vis its competitors. It can be said that the need for good drivability among customers is increasing day by day similar to the need for high fuel economy. Drivability is the response that a vehicle delivers to the inputs of the driver which are mainly accelerator, brake, clutch, gear and steering. The dynamic response of the vehicle is mainly in terms of velocity and acceleration. The way the response is delivered will characterize the drivability of a vehicle. The drivability event discussed in this paper is throttle tip-in response which is one of the critical evaluation factors for defining the character of a Sports Utility Vehicle.