Development of an Objective Methodology for Assessment of Commercial Vehicle Gearshift Quality

Raunak Santosh; Vijayakumar Chekuri

doi:10.4271/2014-01-0182

Rapid growth in the Indian economy has led to new market trends for commercial vehicles. Customers now expect high levels of comfort from all tactile points in a truck cabin; the gear lever knob is frequently used and its reactions greatly influence how a driver perceives Gear Shift Quality (GSQ) and thereby vehicle quality. The subjectivity of human perception is difficult to measure objectively; therefore this paper represents an objective methodology to correlate customer feedback of gearshift reactions.

For the attribute evaluation of a set of intermediate commercial vehicles; detailed subjective appraisals were conducted by expert level assessors for GSQ sub-attributes, and a consecutive objective measurement was performed to investigate and substantiate these vehicle assessments. Dynamic and Static testing techniques were used to measure GSQ parameters like efforts during gear shift/select, feel of different phases of gear engagement /selection, gate definitions and lever travels; this helped in formulating objective metrics that can be used to create a definition of GSQ in a vehicle segment and an objective methodology to assess the same.

The scope of this paper provides a comparative study of GSQ attributes in a set of intermediate commercial vehicles and explains how, the subjectivity of human perception with regard to gearshift comfort can be captured through objective testing methods and correlated.

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Development of an Objective Methodology for Assessment of Commercial Vehicle Gearshift Quality 2014-01-0182

SAE MOBILUS