THE LIGHTING OF CAR INSTRUMENT PANELS--DRIVERS' RESPONSES TO FIVE COLOURS

Drivers' subjective responses to five different colours of instrument panel lighting, and their ability to read the instruments accurately were measured under simulated driving conditions. The instrument panels tested were of a current production 1981 European Ford Granada design fitted into a fully trimmed Ford Granada buick. The instrument panels had five colours of filters over the back lighting lamps, BLUE/GREEN, RED, GREEN, ORANGE and YELLOW. Eighty drivers tested each of the five display colours under night-time lighting conditions. They were asked to rank the colours for ease of reading, ease of checking the speed against limits, distraction, attractiveness, general preference and choice for own car. The BLUE/GREEN, and YELLOW were all liked, with the balance clearly in favour of the BLUE/GREEN. RED was not liked by many drivers and disliked by most. The colours appealed differently to different age and sex groups. There was no difference between the colours in terms of accuracy of reading the speed or deciding whether the speed was within a speed limit.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/01487191
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Presented at the SAE International Congress and Exposition Detroit, Michigan, February 25-March 1, 1985.
• Corporate Authors:

  Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)

  400 Commonwealth Drive
  Warrendale, PA  United States  15096
• Authors:
  • GALER, M
  • Simmonds, GRW
• Publication Date: 1984

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: 8 p.
• Serial:
  • SAE Technical Paper
  • Publisher: Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)
  • ISSN: 0148-7191
  • EISSN: 2688-3627
  • Serial URL: http://papers.sae.org/

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Age; Color; Drivers; Gender; Instrument panels; Lighting; Reaction time
• Uncontrolled Terms: Driver age; Driver reaction; Subjective analysis
• Subject Areas: Safety and Human Factors; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00399070
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Report/Paper Numbers: SAE 850328, HS-038 591
• Files: HSL, USDOT
• Created Date: Aug 31 1985 12:00AM