Juliet Kinchin: I'd like to introduce you to Oscar.
Narrator: That’s Juliet Kinchin—and yes, this guy is known as Oscar. We’ve been looking mostly at the way cars look on the outside. But a lot of work goes into what a car looks like on the inside too.
Juliet Kinchin: Oscar was actually used to measure the distance to the brake pedals, for example, or to the steering wheel, or to the roof of the car. And his figure would be laid out over a life-size drawing of the car interior.
Narrator: You can see joints at Oscar’s feet, knees, hips, and arms. Designers could bend him into different positions to test out and adjust their car interiors.
Juliet Kinchin: But that raises a few questions, I think: how big is your body compared to Oscars? Do you think you'd easily reach the brake pedals in a car designed using Oscar? Do you think your granny would easily sit in a seat designed using Oscar?
Narrator: And one more question: why is Oscar wearing a hat? Car designers used Oscar in the 1950s. Back then, they designed cars mainly for men. And many men used to wear hats every day! Now, car designers are much more aware that people come in all shapes and sizes.