Much like the styling of a vehicle, there’s more to interior design than what meets the eyes (and the fingertips). Where exterior stylists must be concerned with aerodynamics and production feasibility, interior designers must take into things like fit and finish, the quality of the materials and of course, good ergonomics. For that to occur, an understanding of how cars and people interact is a must.

In its ongoing attempts to make its vehicles more user friendly to people of all walks of life, Nissan’s Interaction Design Team came up with some rather curious solutions to make its interiors more livable.

Nissan’s team has surveyed countless hours of footage, watching people make their way around their vehicles’ interiors. As cars become more complicated – with features like navigation systems, and an increased number of buttons and switches – this information has been invaluable for developing a new interior layout for future Nissans.

Nissan’s research resulted in this, the BUI-2 (Best Usability Interior 2). It features an ovoid steering wheel that doesn’t get in the way of the driver’s knees during ingress and egress. Nissan also designed the dashboard to eliminate glare, altered the font type of the instruments for easier legibility, re-organized the buttons on the steering wheel so that they’re more easily accessed, and moved the paddles closer to the edge of the steering wheel for easier use. In addition, the design team looked at the way people open and close doors and incorporated bigger handles with additional grip points into the design.

But the real innovation is the team’s creative approach to accommodating elderly drivers. During the design of BUI-2, the designers donned aging suits that give the wearer the mobility and strength of someone twice their age. Described as being “painful,” the suit gives a new perspective on what older generations must deal with when driving – as well as getting in and out – of a vehicle. It weighs about a kilogram, and features braces on the wrists and knees that limit the wearer’s range of motion.

While some of the finer points of the team’s efforts are likely to pass unnoticed, their work will make the cabins of future cars more user friendly. It’s something to think about next time you go for a drive.