Validation study of a roto-translating seat to support elderly drivers during car ingress/egress: a Biomechanical Analysis

Easy entering (i.e. ingress) and exiting (i.e. egress) a vehicle play an important role in ensuring a comfortable driving experience. Nevertheless, car ingress and egress involve complex movements requiring a lot of sensory and motor information. Due to the age-related cognitive and motor decline, car ingress and egress often represents a difficult task for older population, often resulting in falls. A seat prototype, integrating a roto-translating system aimed to help elderly people in accomplish this task, has been realized. The objective of the current study is to evaluate the seat prototype through both subjective (i.e. interviews and checklists) and objective measures (i.e. biomechanical variables) in order to verify its efficacy in lowering the elderly physical load during the car ingress/egress. Thirty healthy elderly subjects aged over 65 y.o., six of which affected by non-pathological physical limitations, have been included in the study. The results showed that the proposed roto-translating system facilitate the car ingress/egress by reducing both the trunk and knee range of motions and the muscle fatigue while entering and exiting a vehicle. In addition, the system seemed to be appropriate in order to limit the fall risk during the sill passing.