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Updated: May 11, 2026

Lower Limb Biomechanical Analysis of Healthy Participants
Published on: April 15, 2020
A literature review on optimum and preferred joint angles in automotive sitting posture
Susanne Schmidt1, Maximilian Amereller, Matthias Franz
1BMW Group, Forschungs- und Innovationszentrum, Ergonomie und Komfort, Knorrstraße 147, 80788 Munich, Germany.
Abstract:
In this study, a survey of the scientific literature in the field of optimum and preferred human joint angles in automotive sitting posture was conducted by referring to thirty different sources published between 1940 and today. The strategy was to use only sources with numerical angle data in combination with keywords. The aim of the research was to detect commonly used joint angles in interior car design. The main analysis was on data measurement, usability and comparability of the different studies. In addition, the focus was on the reasons for the differently described results. It was found that there is still a lack of information in methodology and description of background. Due to these reasons published data is not always usable to design a modern ergonomic car environment. As a main result of our literature analysis we suggest undertaking further research in the field of biomechanics and ergonomics to work out scientific based and objectively determined "optimum" joint angles in automotive sitting position.
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