Vehicle and driver attributes affecting distance from the steering wheel in motor vehicles

The current study was designed to confirm that female drivers sit closer to the steering wheel than do male drivers and to investigate whether this ex pected difference in sitting position is attributable to differences in the physical dimensions of men and women. Driver body dimensions and multiple measures of sitting distance from the steering wheel were collected from a sample of 150 men and 150 women. The results confirmed that on average, wom en sit closer to the steering wheel than men do and that this difference is accounted for by variations in body dimensions, especially height. This re sult suggests that driver height may provide a good surrogate for sitting d istance from the steering wheel when investigating the role of driver posit ion in real-world crash outcomes. The potential applications of this resear ch include change to vehicle design that allows independent adjustment of t he relative distance among the driver's seat, the steering wheel, and the f loor pedals.