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There is a strong business case for automotive companies to improve by understanding what consumers want, like and dislike. Various aspects of ergonomics such as reach, visibility, usability, feel are dependent on measuring consumer’s ability, opinions and satisfaction. Rating scales (such as adjective, continuous, logarithmic, etc.) are used to measure these complex attitudes. It is essential the correct rating scale and appropriate analysis methods are used to capture these attitudes. Previous psychology research has been conducted on the performance of different rating scales. This ratings scale research focused on scales and their reliability and validity for various applications. This paper will summarize past research, discuss the use of rating scales specific to vehicle ergonomics, and analyze the results of an automotive interface study that correlates the seven-point adjective rating scale to the system usability score (SUS).

Measurement of usability with the System Usability Scale (SUS) is successfully applied to products in many industries. The benefit of any measurement scale, however, is limited by the repeatability of the associated testing process. For SUS, these factors can include sample size, study protocol, previous experience, and pre study exposure to the system being tested. Differences in user exposure can influence the usability assessment of interfaces which could affect the validity of SUS scores.