Supporting the Warning Designer: An Automotive Case Study

• Published in: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting 2001-10, Vol.45 (12), p.865-869
• Main Authors: Dorris, Alan L., Dorris, Nathan T.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1541-9312; 1071-1813; 2169-5067
• DOI: 10.1177/154193120104501202

Over the past quarter century, the Human Factors Engineering (HFE) literature on the design of warning labels and systems has proliferated to hundreds of articles. Some of these purport to provide guidance to designers of warnings. The list of variables investigated is long, however, the list of unqualified conclusions reached is brief. Over the same time span, the number of warnings issued by various sources has increased dramatically. One class of warning developers is governmental regulatory agencies who require those they regulate to issue precautionary information. The extent to which HFE input is reflected in these regulations is a function of the agency's receptiveness to such findings and the extent to which the available literature addresses real-world design problems. This paper examines warning system development by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in light of the available literature. Focusing upon the airbag and rollover warning requirements and utilizing the voluminous public record, the study concludes that the HFE literature inadequately addresses the actual needs of warning designers and that NHTSA has promulgated reasonable warning standards in spite of these deficiencies.