KEITH HELFET

Interior ergonomics

EVEN DURING my earliest years at Jaguar in the Seventies and Eighties, we were always aware of interior ergonomics because we knew some cars were more comfortable than others. Plus as a car designer, I needed to accommodate all size ranges, from the fifth percentile female to the 95th percentile male. But otherwise, Jaguar – like most European manufacturers at the time – never paid much attention to how comfortable interiors were or perhaps more importantly, how easy they were to use.

But in the early Nineties we became increasingly aware of needing to have the controls more accessible. Jaguar eventually recruited three ergonomic experts, all graduates from Loughborough University, who reported to me for a while meaning I was always aware of their work.

Studies at the time had shown people in the western world had grown and a person sat in a car isn’t the same length as when they’re standing up only with their hips and legs bent. When seated, the spine has an arc meaning your eyes and head are dropped by an inch and a half. Obviously it’s important to know this in terms of visibility but for safety too. And so they showed ergonomics was more than just fitting people inside a car; there were also ‘body angles’ to consider. The experts showed us how some of these angles were the optimum while others would become uncomfortable, especially over long journeys.

We previously had some 95th percentile sized dummies made from Perspex in the design studio which had a few hinged joints but that was it. But the experts introduced more sophisticated and lifelike mannequins that, for example, allowed the head restraints to be put in a more useful position, catching the head before there was too much whiplash caused by a rear impact.

The development of ergonomics also started to improve seat design and we eventually added lumber and lateral support to our cars. Seat cushions also become extendable to support thighs.

The other part of improving ergonomics was the layout of the controls. From a safety point of view, we wanted to keep all the switches and car information in the clear view of the driver without the needing to change the direction of their eyes. The reach and nature of the controls became more studied over time and therefore more efficient, eventually resulting in driver and infotainment controls located on the steering wheel. Ergonomics became really important when satellite navigation was introduced in the early 2000s. One of my ergonomics experts worked closely with Jaguar’s early sat nav team to improve the system’s interface so that it was intuitive to use, user friendly and the information easily inputted. We also spent a lot of time working on the information output IN THE EARLY to try correct and line help earlier drivers get for example. into the NINETIES The ergonomics experts also made us WE BECAME aware that the demographic of Jaguar’s INCREASINGLY customer were usually older (the ‘fifth age’ in marketing speak). They madeAWARE OF everyone in the studio wear glasses that NEEDING TO HAVE THE CONTROLS made everything appear fuzzy so we’d make the controls clear and obvious for these older customers. MORE ACCESSIBLE I became especially aware of ergonomics when I was the design manager of the X308 generation of XJ8 in the mid Nineties. The interior of its predecessor, the X300, was largely based on the XJ40’s that was originally designed in the Seventies and Eighties. So with our experts on board from the beginning, it gave us a chance to improve the location of the controls and the overall layout. This meant the X308 was arguably the first Jaguar to have an ergonomically designed interior. Keith Helfet was a Jaguar designer between 1978 and 2002. His most famous creations are the XJ41, XJ220, XK 180 and F-type concept, plus the design themes for the XK8. He currently runs his own design company