Analysis of electrostatic discharge (ESD) for the human body and an automobile environment

The objective of this work was to analyze possible electrostatic discharge (ESD) events involving the interface between the human body and an automobile. Charge generated by triboelectrification for a vehicle in motion and the interface between clothing worn by the human body and a vehicle's seats are prime causes for automotive ESD. The concept of a coupling factor can be utilized to predict values of discharge parameters for the limiting cases of typical situations involving the charged human body, another human body and an automobile.