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Customer perception of switch-feel in luxury sports utility vehicles

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Wellings, Tom, Williams, M. A. (Mark A.) and Pitts, Matthew. (2008) Customer perception of switch-feel in luxury sports utility vehicles. Food Quality and Preference, Vol.19 (No.8). pp. 737-746. ISSN 0950-3293

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2008.03.004

Abstract

Successful new product introduction requires that product characteristics relate to the customer on functional, emotional, aesthetic and cultural levels. As a part of research into automotive human machine interfaces (HMI), this paper describes holistic customer research carried out to investigate how the haptics of switches in luxury sports utility vehicles (SUVs) are perceived by customers. The application of these techniques, including an initial proposal for objective specifications, is addressed within the broader new product introduction context, and benefits described. One-hundred and one customers of SUVs assessed the feel of automotive push switches, completing the tasks both in, and out of vehicles to investigate the effect of context. Using the semantic differential technique, hedonic testing, and content analysis of customers’ verbatim comments, a holistic picture has been built up of what influences the haptic experience. It was found that customers were able to partially discriminate differences in switch-feel, alongside considerations of visual appearance, image, and usability. Three factors named ‘Affective’, ‘Robustness and Precision’, and ‘Silkiness’ explained 61% of the variance in a principle components analysis. Correlations of the factors with acceptance scores were 0.505, 0.371, and 0.168, respectively.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology T Technology > TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) T Technology > TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
Divisions:	Faculty of Science > WMG (Formerly the Warwick Manufacturing Group)
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Automobiles -- Design and construction, Touch, Electric switchgear, Consumers -- Research , User-centered system design
Journal or Publication Title:	Food Quality and Preference
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0950-3293
Date:	27 December 2008
Volume:	Vol.19
Number:	No.8
Number of Pages:	10
Page Range:	pp. 737-746
Identification Number:	10.1016/j.foodqual.2008.03.004
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
Funder:	Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
Version or Related Resource:	Previously presented as: Wellings, Tom, Williams, Mark A. and Pitts, Matthew (2007) The customer, automotive switch-feel, and the New Product Introduction process. In: 7th Pangborn Sensory Science Symposium, August 12–16, 2007, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Related URLs:	Related item in WRAP
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URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/569