Original Article

Proc IMechE Part D:

J Automobile Engineering
226(9) 1185–1201
Variation modes of vehicle Ó IMechE 2012
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DOI: 10.1177/0954407012442775

vehicle acceleration pid.sagepub.com

Sang-Don Lee and Seung-Lye Kim

Abstract
Vehicle acceleration is one of the key characteristics that influence customer satisfaction. Pedal displacements and vehicle
speeds are necessary to represent the performance of acceleration: how much acceleration a vehicle is capable of if the
acceleration pedal is displaced at a certain speed. The result of varying the acceleration pedal is called the acceleration
response surface in three-dimensions. The current approach utilizes a few discrete levels of acceleration response sur-
face for engineering specification because of the three-dimensional nature of the acceleration response surface (ARS),
and thus may under-represent the entire acceleration response surface. The underlying variation modes of the accelera-
tion response surface among 92 vehicles are identified by applying principal component analysis in which the entire ARS
is analyzed. The 92 vehicles are specifically between the 2006- and 2007-model years with automatic transmission and
4-, 6-, and 8-cylinder engines. Two variation modes are identified, which differentiate vehicles from each other: how fast
a vehicle can accelerate overall and how quickly a vehicle reaches its peak acceleration at launch with short or long pedal
displacement. The association between the two variation modes and buyer satisfaction from mail surveys similar to
Consumer Reports is analysed. Finally the ideal shape of the acceleration response surface is developed.

Keywords
Vehicle acceleration, acceleration response surface, acceleration gain, engineering specification, market positioning,
voice of the customer, principal component analysis, eigenvalue decomposition, singular value decomposition, variation
modes

Date received: 1 November 2011; accepted: 17 February 2012

Introduction Acceleration is configured carefully to meet various lev-

Vehicle acceleration is one of the key characteristics
that influence customer satisfaction, as an indicator of
how likely customers are to make purchases in the
future. Influential automotive magazines and surveys
such as Consumer Reports1 and J.D. Power2 regularly
collect customer satisfaction data on acceleration for
marketing research. Some of the typical comments on
acceleration include: ‘Car accelerates smoothly without
jerking or hesitating’, ‘Car accelerates without excess
noise’ and ‘Car accelerates quickly from a standing
start to get ahead of traffic, to merge safely into traffic,
or to get out of a dangerous situation’. These qualita-
tive statements need to be translated into quantitative
engineering specifications such as peak launch accelera-
tion, time duration from zero to 100 km/h, passing
acceleration from 100 km/h to 160 km/h, etc.
It is well known that various customers have dif-
ferent expectations and thus levels of satisfaction
(e.g. customers desiring sports cars vs. family cars).
els of customer satisfaction and to achieve product
differentiation while balancing fuel economy. Fast
acceleration at launch and smooth shift in transmission
are generally associated with high customer satisfac-
tion. Acceleration at high speed is also vital for execut-
ing safe highway merging and passing, which require
that some engine power and thus acceleration should
be available at high speed. Vehicle curb mass is a key
factor influencing acceleration and fuel economy, and
horse power-to-mass ratio is one of the measures that
characterize acceleration performance by combining
both curb mass and engine horsepower.
General Motors Technical Center, Warren, MI, USA
Corresponding author:
Sang-Don Lee, General Motors Technical Center, Warren, MI, USA.
Email: sangdonlee@gmail.com; seunglyekim@gmail.com

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1186
Acceleration response surface (ARS)
Two factors are necessary to represent acceleration, as
it is perceived by customers: acceleration at various
pedal displacements (PD) and vehicle speeds. With a
vehicle at standstill, the accelerator pedal is pressed a
predetermined distance (e.g. 10 mm) using a fixture
attached to it, after which acceleration and speed are
measured.3 This test is repeated for various PD and the
outcome is a three-dimensional (3D) surface called the
acceleration response surface (ARS) (Figure 1(a)). The
acceleration in z-axis ranges from 0.005 g up to 0.8 g,
PD from 5 mm to 40 mm, and vehicle speeds from zero
to 160 km/h. Note that the label for the vertical axis is
multiplied by ten for easy viewing (Figure 1(a)).
The ARS in 3D can be viewed from the top (Figure
1(b)) and from the sides (Figure 1(c) and Figure 1(d))
Figure 1. ARS of a vehicle (V108): 3D view (a), top-view (b), side-view from speed (c) and side-view from PD (d). Label of
acceleration (z-axis) is multiplied by 10 in panel (a).
PD: pedal displacement.
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Proc IMechE Part D: J Automobile Engineering 226(9)
so that various characteristics of the ARS can be under-
stood. The top view shows how evenly the acceleration
levels are distributed as well as the area of no accelera-
tion (i.e. acceleration less than 0.005 g). This vehicle
(V108) shows a very wide area of acceleration for up to
0.2 g but a very narrow range for between 0.2 g and
0.3 g. It shows low acceleration for passing at high
speed. For example, when this vehicle travels at
140 km/h at 20 mm PD and the acceleration pedal is
pressed additional 10 mm, the resulting acceleration is
less than 0.1 g. The white area indicates no acceleration
(thus constant speed) and overall, the levels of accelera-
tion are well distributed. The side view from the vehicle
speed (Figure 1(c)) shows how quickly the acceleration
drops at specific PD and at various speeds. For exam-
ple, if the acceleration pedal is pressed by 12.5 mm, this
vehicle shows 0.3 g at launch and no acceleration at
Lee and Kim
100 km/h. The side view from the PD (Figure 1(d))
shows how quickly the acceleration rises at various PD
at specific vehicle speeds (also known as acceleration
gain). This vehicle reaches its maximum launch accelera-
tion of 0.5 g at 20 mm PD and remains flat thereafter.
The downward arrow (A) in Figure 1(a) shows the
acceleration capability when this vehicle is completely
stopped and then accelerates. This curve is the result of
upward shift in transmission gears. The arrow (B) in
Figure 1(a) is related to a vehicle’s passing acceleration
and is affected by the downward gearshift. This vehicle
can achieve passing acceleration of 0.1 g by depressing
the acceleration pedal an additional 10 mm when this
vehicle travels at steady state (e.g. 60 km/h at 10 mm
PD). The upward arrow (C) in Figure 1(b) shows that
this vehicle is not capable of passing even though the
acceleration pedal is depressed by an additional 10 mm
when the vehicle travels at steady state of 120 km/h at
15 mm PD (the acceleration increase was very small,
almost unchanged at 0.05 g).
Limitations of current approach
Industry norms for characterizing acceleration are time
duration from zero to 100 km/h, passing acceleration
from 100 to 160 km/h, and peak launch acceleration.
The time duration from zero to 100 km/h is a simple
and convenient measure that is widely used to compare
acceleration performance, in which the accelerator
pedal is fully and instantaneously depressed. However,
not many people drive a vehicle at such fast accelera-
tion. Daily driving occurs with a partially open throttle
of, usually, less than 30% of wide-open throttle capac-
ity. The acceleration pedal is partially depressed, result-
ing in less than 0.3 g in acceleration usually, and drivers
perceive the acceleration with low frequency responses
from the entire vehicle body. Thus, a vehicle that per-
forms well at wide-open throttle with very high peak
launch acceleration might feel heavy or sluggish under
daily driving conditions. Passing acceleration is also a
convenient measure but does not specify how far an
accelerator pedal needs to be further pressed. Quick
acceleration with short PD is usually perceived as dan-
gerous in parking lot maneuvers but desirable at initial
vehicle movements (e.g. stopped at traffic light).
Current engineering metric utilizes a few discrete
points in ARS3 because it is difficult to compare many
ARS in 3D simultaneously. Utilizing the few discrete
points in the ARS might not represent the transient
and dynamic behavior of acceleration, thus potentially
under-representing the ARS. For example, customers
might perceive differently the acceleration of two vehi-
cles that have the same peak launch acceleration
because the first vehicle reaches its peak at 20 mm PD,
while the second peaks at 40 mm PD. Therefore, peak
launch acceleration is a half-valid measure if PD and
time duration are not taken into account. Much time
and effort are spent on Robust Engineering or design
of experiments in order to improve vehicle design and
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1187
thus customer satisfaction. However, such activities will
prove suboptimal or even doubtful if response variables
in such experiments do not correctly represent the
multi-dimensional characteristics of acceleration.
Objectives
The objective of this paper is to analyze the variation
pattern in vehicle acceleration and how these underly-
ing modes are associated with customer satisfaction.
The objective should take into account the entire shape
of ARS. Specific objectives include: (1) identifying the
average shape of ARS so that it can be used as a base-
line for market positioning, (2) identifying vehicles that
show extreme acceleration so that performance bound-
aries can be established, and (3) determining the ideal
shape of ARS that incorporates high customer satisfac-
tion. Principal component analysis (PCA) and principal
component regression (PCR) are applied to achieve the
above objectives. One benefit of applying PCA is that
ARS in 3D can be projected in a scatter plot so that
many ARS in 3D can be charted and compared simul-
taneously and easily. Another benefit is that the largest
variation patterns are identified, making it likely that
customers will easily perceive the largest variation
patterns.
The authors carried out a literature review on accel-
eration and customer satisfaction but could not find
many papers.3,4 Lee3 analyzed the variation mode of
acceleration gain based on 15 midsize sedans. Variation
modes will vary, depending on the vehicles analyzed;
therefore, a representative selection of vehicles is very
critical and this paper analyzes the variation modes of
acceleration from 92 vehicles that represent nearly the
entire car and sport utility vehicle (SUV) market seg-
ments in 2006 and 2007. The ideal shapes of acceleration
that are highly correlated with buyer satisfaction are
derived and vehicle technical specifications are devel-
oped in this paper. In addition, the average shape and
extreme shapes of ARS are identified to support market
positioning. The ideal shapes of acceleration are to be
used as an objective function to optimize vehicle design.
This paper is organized as follows (Figure 2).
Ninety-two ARS are collected and PCA is applied to
extract the variation patterns. Customer satisfaction
with acceleration obtained from internal mail survey is
then regressed on the underlying variation modes. The
desired shapes of ARS associated with high and low
customer satisfaction are identified. A summary and
discussion of strengths and weaknesses follow. Minitab
version 14, statistical software, is used for this paper.5
Acceleration test data and buyer
satisfaction data
The ARS of 92 vehicles with well-recognized vehicle
names were extracted from an internal database in
which all test data were archived. The acceleration tests
1188
Figure 2. Analysis steps.
PCA: principal component analysis; SUV: sports utility vehicle.
were performed in an internal testing facility adhering
to Society of Automotive Engineering test procedures.6
They include 48 sedans and 31 SUV on the market
between 2006 and 2007. The remaining vehicles are vans
and pickups. All vehicles have automatic transmissions
with 4-, 6-, or 8-cylinder engines from North American,
Japanese, European, and Korean manufacturers.
ARS test data
Acceleration is sampled and digitized at various PD
and vehicle speeds simultaneously. PD is between
5 mm and 40 mm with an increment of 2.5 mm (14 dis-
crete levels). Little variation occurs in acceleration
beyond 40 mm of PD for most vehicles. Speed is
between 0 km/h and 160 km/h with an increment of
3 km/h up to 60 km/h and an increment of 5 km/h
between 60 km/h and 160 km/h (45 discrete levels).
Thus, all the data become a 3D array (45 speeds 3
14 PD 3 92 vehicles). The data are then unfolded to
a 4140 3 14 matrix, given that PCA can analyze an
n 3 m matrix. The columns of the unfolded matrix
are PD and the rows of this matrix are a mixture of
92 vehicles for 45 levels of speed.
Acceleration tests are performed using vehicles that
are acquired as is. They are not configured to eliminate
other effects in measuring acceleration: vehicle curb
mass, horsepower, transmission speeds and gear ratios,
tire types and sizes, aerodynamics, etc. Only the accel-
eration pedal is varied in measuring acceleration and
speed because drivers press the acceleration pedal and
perceive the acceleration without noticing the factors
mentioned above. All these variables are confounded
and thus cannot be separated unless controlled experi-
ments are carried out. That is, if the acceleration pedal
is pressed by 10 mm, it cannot be known whether the
acceleration is affected by changes in PD, different
transmission speeds or gear ratio, low rolling resistance
tire types, etc. Eliminating the above differences would
be impractical in practice, and one way of statistically
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Proc IMechE Part D: J Automobile Engineering 226(9)
controlling such differences is to include them in the
regression as covariates (termed statistically controlled).
The statistically controlled approach does not necessa-
rily separate the individual effects of those variables
because they are confounded and highly collinear. For
the adverse effects of collinearity and confounding in
the regression approach, see published research:7–10 col-
linear or confounded variables make the regression
coefficients unstable, thus the interpretation is often
unwarranted.
Buyer satisfaction data
Customer ratings of acceleration for these vehicles are
obtained from internal mail surveys that are sent to
buyers a few months after purchase, as part of regular
market research. The questionnaires in this mail survey
are very similar to those of Consumer Reports and
J.D. Power surveys. Buyers are asked to rate their satis-
faction with their newly purchased vehicle along a spec-
trum of vehicle factors (acceleration, braking, ride,
handling, noise, styling, etc.). The average number of
respondents is around 500 customers per vehicle with a
minimum of 200. The customer ratings of just 80 vehi-
cles out of the 92 are available because some vehicles
are newly introduced and the customer ratings are not
yet collected. Vehicle type (sedan vs. SUV), overall
satisfaction with the purchased vehicle, horsepower
(HP), vehicle mass, 0 to 60 mile/h, peak acceleration
are also collected.
Three questions are available in respect to accelera-
tion: (1) Please rate your new vehicle experience on
engine power and acceleration (‘Rate: engine power and
acceleration’). (2) Please rate your new vehicle experi-
ence on the driving performance (‘Rate: driving perfor-
mance’). (3) (‘Evaluate acceleration’) acceleration refers
to how quickly and smoothly the vehicle can speed up to
pass, or merge with, other vehicles when needed. Overall
satisfaction with a newly purchased vehicle is also
available and collected. All ratings are based on the
five-level Likert scale (1: completely unsatisfied, 5:
completely satisfied).
The customer satisfaction from mail surveys is obser-
vational in nature: respondents are not randomly
assigned but are buyers of a particular vehicle. Buyers
have different needs or expectations for a certain vehicle
or brand due to income, personal experience, percep-
tion, word of mouth, etc. If a vehicle rates high in accel-
eration, it would need to be known whether the high
rating results from fast acceleration, whether the vehicle
exceeds customer expectations even though it is slow,
or whether the vehicle has a good reputation for brand
or quality. People might purchase vehicles because
of price incentives, and they justify their purchase
unconsciously by giving it high satisfaction ratings. Or
the high ratings might be a random variation due to
small sample size. The authors observed that a vehicle
with high acceleration satisfaction also rates high in
many other areas including fuel economy, warranty,
Lee and Kim 1189

T
noise, etc. Virtually all ratings for many questionnaires XT X = (U S VT )T (U S VT ) = V S UT U S VT
from the survey are highly collinear.
= V ST S VT
= VL VT = eigenvector  Eigenvalue 
PCA and PCR
eigenvectorT
The idea of multivariate statistical analysis such as
PCA is to combine/decompose variables into new vari- L = ST S = S2 ð2Þ
ables if the variables are similar.11 Depending on the
The diagonal elements of L are called eigenvalues and
definition of similarity, various exploratory methods
are arranged in decreasing order, which are squares of
have been developed, including multidimensional scal-
the corresponding singular values in S.
ing, correspondence analysis, independent component
The total variance of X is scaled to be equal to the
analysis, PCA, etc. The measure of similarity of PCA is
number of variables in X, which is the same as the sum
covariance/correlation among variables (i.e. variables
of eigenvalues or the sum of squares of singular values
with high correlation are combined), while distance
(L=STS=S2) by standardizing the variables. Matrix
(e.g. variables with short distance are combined) is for
algebra shows that the sum of the eigenvalues of a diag-
multidimensional scaling, profile (e.g. variables with
onal and symmetric square matrix such as XTX is equal
similar histograms are combined) for correspondence
to the sum of its diagonal elements (called trace).7 The
analysis, and kurtosis for independent component
diagonal elements of correlation matrix XTX are all
analysis.
equal to one, and thus the sum of the diagonal elements
The new variables are linear combinations (i.e.
in XTX is equal to the total number of variables.
weighted sums) of the original variables, and the
Consequently, the degree of correlation among vari-
weights are derived such that maximum variance of
ables can be represented in relation to the number of
data is accounted for. The newly derived variables are
variables. For example, if there are ten variables, then
called PC (principal component) and are also known as
the total variance is scaled to ten and the sum of the
underlying patterns, factors, latent variables, loadings,
eigenvalues becomes ten. If the eigenvalue of the first
eigenvectors, or variation modes in structural dynamics
component is seven, then seventy percent (7/10) of the
(e.g. bending or torsion modes of bridges in experimen-
total variance, and thus correlation, is accounted for by
tal modal analysis).
the first component. An eigenvalue close to zero indi-
PCA is widely applied and has various names
cates that the corresponding PC explains a trivial
depending on disciplines: (1) singular value decomposi-
amount of variance in X and thus the corresponding
tion (SVD) of rectangular matrix X, (2) eigenvalue
PC can be discarded, i.e. T is reduced to Tf (f  j; f ¼
decomposition (EVD) of the square matrix XTX in lin-
the number of extracted PC).
ear algebra,13 (3) proper orthogonal decomposition in
In essence, PCA develops a new matrix Tf and uses it
feedback control theory, (4) Karhunen–Loeve transfor-
instead of X for further analysis
mation in electrical engineering, (5) Hotelling’s trans-
formation in multivariate quality control, (6) spectral X(i 3 j) ’ Tf (i 3 f) ’ Vf Lf Vf T ð3Þ
decomposition in noise and vibration, (7) empirical
modal analysis in structural dynamics, (8) empirical This process is called as a projection of X into PC space.
orthogonal functions in meteorological science, and (9) The PC scores are computed as follows
Eckart–Young theorem in psychometrics.12–15
Tf = X Vf ð4Þ
SVD decomposes or projects a rectangular matrix X
( i 3 j ) into three matrices that show co-varying pat- PCR uses the Tf instead of X and applies the least
terns for rows, degrees of correlation, and columns, square estimation approach. The benefit of using Tf is
respectively. that the columns of Tf are orthogonal, thus the
adverse effects of collinearity are eliminated. Because
X = U S VT = T VT = PC scores  PC loadings
the columns of Tf are a linear combination of the col-
UT U = I, VT V = I ð1Þ umns of X, all variables in X are included in regres-
sion. Thus, all important but correlated variables are
The first matrix U characterizes the similarity (i.e. cor- kept and used in regressing the customer satisfaction
relation) of rows (i.e. samples). The second matrix S on ARS.
shows the degree of similarity that is scaled to equal the
number of columns (i.e. variables). The third matrix V
captures the similarity of columns. T = US is called Variation modes in vehicle acceleration
PC scores, the value of PC. The diagonal elements of S
PC as best curves to describe the ARS from PD and
are called singular values and are arranged in decreas-
ing order. UT=U21, VT=V21 shall be noted. speed
EVD is related to SVD mathematically and decom- The results from the PCA are shown in Table 1(a), in
poses a symmetric square matrix XTX ( j 3 j ) into three which only six PC are shown, while 14 PC could have
matrices. Applying SVD, been extracted. The first and second PC (PC 1 and PC

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1190 Proc IMechE Part D: J Automobile Engineering 226(9)

Table 1. PCA of ARS from 92 vehicles. Tables 1(b) and (c) are shown in Figures 3(b) and (c).
(a) Eigen analysis of the correlation matrix.

PC 1 PC 2 PC 3 PC 4 PC 5 PC 6 . Sum

Eigenvalue 11.631 1.732 0.263 0.105 0.058 0.041 . 14

Percent 83% 12% 2% 0.80% 0.40% 0.30% .
Cumulative % 83% 95% 97% 98% 98% 98% . 100.0%

(b) Variation modes of ARS from vehicle speed viewpoint (see (c) Variation modes of ARS from pedal displacement
Figure 3(b)). viewpoint (see Figure 3(c)).

Vehicle PC 1 PC 2 Pedal PC 1 PC 2
speed (1st variation mode) (2nd variation mode) displacement (1st variation mode) (2nd variation mode)

0 km/h 22.89 22.08 5.0 mm 0.20 20.49

10 km/h 5.79 20.49 7.5 mm 0.24 20.42
20 km/h 3.48 0.2 10.0 mm 0.26 20.34
30 km/h 2.26 0.57 12.5 mm 0.27 20.26
40 km/h 1.46 0.84 15.0 mm 0.28 20.17
50 km/h 0.47 0.77 17.5 mm 0.28 20.07
60 km/h 20.41 0.55 20.0 mm 0.29 0.02
70 km/h 21.06 0.45 22.5 mm 0.28 0.10
80 km/h 21.61 0.35 25.0 mm 0.28 0.18
90 km/h 22.1 0.22 27.5 mm 0.28 0.23
100 km/h 22.56 0.08 30.0 mm 0.27 0.24
110 km/h 22.94 20.05 32.5 mm 0.27 0.26
120 km/h 23.28 20.18 35.0 mm 0.27 0.27
130 km/h 23.62 20.33 40.0 mm 0.27 0.27
140 km/h 23.94 20.49
150 km/h 24.2 20.64
160 km/h 24.52 20.84

the maximum variance). Certainly, PC 1 does not

2) account for 95% of the total variance. Thus, the
4140 3 14 matrix can be represented by a 4140 3 2
matrix with a loss of only 5% of the total variance. The
fact that many eigenvalues are close to zero indicates
that the shapes of the 92 ARS are highly similar (corre-
lated). For example, if a vehicle’s acceleration is high at
30 km/h and 12.4 mm PD, then the acceleration at its
neighborhood (e.g. 33 km/h with 12.4 mm PD) will
also be high and thus well correlated. The eigenvectors
for only 17 discrete levels of vehicle speed out of 45 lev-
els of speed are shown in Table 1(b) and Figure 3(b)
and (c).
The two PC are extracted as follows (Table 1(c)):
 PC 1 = 0.202 * Acceleration at 5.0 mm PD
+ 0.237 * Acceleration at 7.5 mm PD + ...
+ 0.265 * Acceleration at 40.0 mm PD.
 PC 2 = –0.492 * Acceleration at 5.0 mm
PD – 0.423 * Acceleration at 7.5 mm PD + ...
+ 0.267 * Acceleration at 40.0 mm PD.
The meaning of the two PC as a projection of ARS
onto PC space is shown in Figure 3(a). The 92 ARS in
3D can be imagined as overlapped and viewed from PD
and speed viewpoints. Then the PC 1 is a curve (a new
variable) that will best describe the shapes of 92 ARS
viewed from PD viewpoints (i.e. the PC 1 accounts for
describe the 92 ARS exactly and thus another curve is
derived (PC 2) that will maximally account for the
remaining shapes of 93 ARS (Figure 3(b) and Figure
3(c)). The extraction of PC continues until all the var-
iances of the 93 ARS are accounted for, though usually
the first few PC account for the most variance in X.
The shape of PC 1 from the viewpoint of PD shows
the overall level of acceleration, as the values of the
eigenvector are quite similar in magnitude over the
entire range of PD (Figure 3(c)). The shape of the PC 2
shows that acceleration increases linearly until 30 mm
of PD, which shows the general shape of the 92 ARS
from PD. Similar curves can be derived from speed
viewpoints. Because the rows are a mixture of 92 vehi-
cles and 45 levels of speed due to unfolding, the eigen-
vectors are then averaged for 92 vehicles at 45 levels of
speed ((Table 1(b) and Figure 3(b)). The shape of PC 1
from vehicle speed shows that the projected accelera-
tion peaks at around 10 km/h and gradually decreases.
Thus, the two PC from the vehicle speed viewpoint and
the two PC from the PD viewpoint reveal the general
shapes of the 92 ARS.
Key results: Projection of 92 ARS onto a scatter plot
in PC space
After the two PC are extracted, their scores for 92 vehi-
cles are computed and charted in Figure 4 (numbers are

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Lee and Kim 1191

Figure 3. PCA as a projection of ARS onto PC space (a) and PC as two curves that account for the best ARS from speed (b) and
from PD viewpoints (c).
ARS: acceleration response surface.

assigned to label the vehicles due to confidentiality), in
which the x- and y-axes represent the PC scores for PC
1 and PC 2, respectively. This figure is the key result of
this paper. The dots in the figures are the projected
location of the 92 ARS onto the two PC space. In it,
the 4140 3 14 matrix is reduced to a 4140 3 2 matrix
and eventually a 92 3 2 matrix after the PC score for a
vehicle is averaged. Certainly, it is much easier to
comprehend Figure 4 rather than working on the 92
ARS in 3D.
This scatter plot (also known as PC score plot) needs
interpretation because the PC is a linear combination
of the original variables. Vehicles on the left side, such
as V2 and V66, show the largest difference in ARS
against vehicles on the right side, such as V39, V48,
V13, and V100. Vehicles positioned on the right side

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1192
Figure 4. Projection of the 92 ARS onto PC space as a scatter plot (also known as PC score plot).
PD: pedal displacement; Accel: acceleration.
show larger area under the ARS overall (i.e. higher
acceleration) as compared to those vehicles on the left
half. For example, V2 and V66 show peak launch
acceleration around 0.3 g while V39, V48, V13, and
V100 are found around 0.6 g. Vehicles on the top reach
their peak launch acceleration with longer PD as com-
pared to the vehicles on the bottom. For example, V80
and V55 reach their peak launch acceleration around
35 mm PD while V31 does so around 17.5 mm PD. In
addition, V31 shows 0.2 g at 5 mm PD while V80 and
V55 show 0.05 g at 5 mm PD (to be shown again in
Figure 8, Figure 9, and Figure 10).
Customer satisfaction from the regression analyses is
also shown in Figure 4 as contour lines. The regression
results indicate that vehicles positioned on the top right
corner show the highest customer satisfaction (to be dis-
cussed in the next section).
To interpret the x-axis (i.e. the first mode or PC 1)
further, three vehicles are selected (V66, V108 and V39)
that are positioned horizontally in Figure 4. As the
three vehicles are positioned from left to right (V66 !
V108 ! V39), the ARS rise up and the area under the
ARS enlarges (Figure 5). Therefore, the PC 1 is called
the overall acceleration level factor (Figure 5(d)).
This interpretation is also illustrated on the left- and
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Proc IMechE Part D: J Automobile Engineering 226(9)
right-hand sides as the ARS is viewed from pedal dis-
placement viewpoint in Figure 4.
The three vehicles (V74, V108 and V31) positioned
vertically in Figure 4 are shown in Figure 6 to interpret
the y-axis (i.e. the second mode or PC 2). As the three
vehicles are positioned from bottom to top (V74 !
V108 ! V31), they reach their peak launch accelera-
tion with shorter PD, while peak launch acceleration
remains close to 0.45 g. Red dotted lines are drawn to
visually aid the peak launch acceleration. The V31
reaches its maximum peak launch acceleration with
only 12.5 mm PD and 0.15 g acceleration at 5 mm PD,
while the vehicles V108 and V74 reach this at 20 mm
and 27.5 mm, respectively. Similar patterns occur for
vehicles positioned vertically although the results are
not shown: (V67 ! V29 ! V104), (V55 ! V105 !
V70), and (V13 ! V39 ! V100). Thus, PC 2 is termed
the peak acceleration factor at launch with short and
long PD (Figure 6(d)). This interpretation is also illu-
strated on the top and bottom corner in Figure 4 as the
ARS is viewed from the PD viewpoint.
Figure 7 shows the same chart as Figure 4 after
separating vehicle and engine types. Cars with 4-cylin-
der engines are clustered at the lower left corner with
lowest customer satisfaction. Many of them are small
Lee and Kim 1193

Figure 5. The first mode of variation showing how high the peak launch acceleration reaches as vehicles are positioned
horizontally (V66 ! V108 ! V39).

or compact size vehicles. Cars with 8-cylinder engines
are clustered on the upper right corner with highest
customer satisfaction. Cars with 6-cylinder engines are
projected between cars with 4- and 8-cylinder engines.
Therefore, cars with 4-cylinder engines are slower over-
all and reach peak launch acceleration earlier with
shorter PD than cars with 8-cylinder engines. However,
there is much overlap among 4-, 6- and 8-cylinder
engines, which hints that 4-cylinder vehicles could have
similar acceleration as vehicles with 6- or 8-cylinders
(Figure 7(a)). SUV with 6- and 8-cylinder engines are
clustered together in the middle, which hints that there
is no difference between them with respect to accelera-
tion as well as customer satisfaction (Figure 7(b)).
V53 and V108 are close to the grand average of all
vehicles to be used as a baseline for market positioning
(Figure 4 and Figure 8), i.e. the first objective of this
paper. On average, vehicles reach peak launch accelera-
tion of 0.45 g with 20 mm PD overall (Figure 8). For
the extreme acceleration shapes (i.e. second objective of
this paper), V77 and V13 show the largest difference in
acceleration. One of the two slowest vehicles (V77)
reaches its peak launch acceleration of 0.35 g at 20 mm
PD and subsequently remains flat (i.e. no acceleration
even though acceleration pedal is further depressed).
V77 shows 0.2 g acceleration at 5 mm PD, a very tou-
chy pedal at short PD, while V13 shows very little
acceleration at 5 mm PD. V77 shows large areas of no

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1194
Figure 6. The second mode of variation showing short or long PD for reaching peak launch acceleration as vehicles are positioned
vertically (V74 ! V108 ! V31).
acceleration (e.g. zero acceleration at 140 km/h at
20 mm PD). V13 with 8 cylinders reaches its peak
launch acceleration of 0.6 g at just 20 mm PD. It still
shows 0.2 g acceleration at 160 km/h with sufficient
acceleration left for passing.
Regression of customer satisfaction on the two
modes of ARS
Buyer satisfaction ratings of the 79 vehicles (‘Rate:
engine power and acceleration’) are regressed on the
two PC in order to comprehend how the two PC are
associated with customer satisfaction. The ratings
of some vehicles are not available yet because there
are newly introduced vehicles in the data. Two addi-
tional customer satisfaction ratings (‘Rate: driving
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Proc IMechE Part D: J Automobile Engineering 226(9)
performance’, ‘Evaluate: acceleration’) are also
regressed and the results showed them to be quite simi-
lar (not shown). The three ratings have correlation
coefficients among each other of close to 0.9.
Because only seven pickups and one van are avail-
able, one categorical variable for vehicle type (Utility)
is used to include the difference in customer satisfaction
between sedan (as a base for comparison) and utility.
Overall satisfaction with the purchased vehicle is
included as a proxy to control the various noises statis-
tically, such as with brand perception and customers’
expectation. Thus, it is assumed that the overall satis-
faction is a measure for the brand perception and cus-
tomers’ expectation. Vehicle mass and engine HP are
combined into a HP-to-mass ratio and used as a surro-
gate measure to statistically control the difference in
vehicle mass and HP and to avoid the adverse effects of
Lee and Kim
Figure 7. The PC score plot of Figure 4 separated by vehicle
and engine types.
collinearity because HP and mass are inversely corre-
lated. The HP-to-mass ratio and the overall satisfaction
with a new vehicle are standardized as indicated by the
‘S’ after the predictors in Table 2.
All the predictors except vehicle type (Utility) are
statistically significant with p-values less than 0.005,
indicating that customer satisfaction is associated with
overall vehicle satisfaction, HP-to-mass ratio, and two
variation modes. No difference between cars and
SUVs is found (cars and SUVs overlap in Figure 7, in
which the contour lines for buyer satisfaction are
shown). Regression from one of the three customer
satisfactions (‘Evaluate: acceleration’) show that the
regression coefficient for Utility is statistically signifi-
cant (not shown). Thus, there might be differences in
customer satisfaction between cars and SUVs.
High customer satisfaction is associated with high
overall acceleration level (PC 1) with longer PD to
reach its peak launch acceleration (PC 2). The statisti-
cally significant PC 2 indicates that buyers seem unsat-
isfied if a vehicle reaches its peak launch acceleration
with short PD (thus no acceleration occurs, even if the
acceleration pedal is further pressed). In other words,
some acceleration should be reserved for when the
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1195
acceleration pedal is depressed for passing and merging
on the highway.
The r-square, the adjusted r-square, and the pre-
dicted r-square are above 70% and similar in magni-
tude, indicating that this regression model is stable and
buyer satisfaction is well predicted. The variation infla-
tion factors for the four predictors are very close to the
ideal value of one, another indication that the partial
regression coefficients are stable.
The sequence of predictors specified in the regression
model is of note because ARS test data and customer
satisfaction are not from controlled experiments (i.e.
observational data). The specific sequence of the pre-
dictors in this regression model indicates that the cus-
tomer satisfaction is associated first with vehicle type
(not statistically significant though) and then with the
overall satisfaction with the purchased vehicle, fol-
lowed by HP-to-mass ratio and, last, the two PC.
Vehicle type is specified first because it is already
known when buyers made their purchase. Then over-
all satisfaction with the purchased vehicle (i.e. brand
perception and expectation) affects satisfaction with
acceleration first, and followed by actual acceleration
of the vehicle (two PC).
The sequence of predictors specified in the regres-
sion is important in understanding the individual
predictors’ contribution to customer satisfaction
(Tables 2(c) and (d)), which is known as the sequen-
tial sum of the square. If the sequence of predictors is
simply switched, the sequential sum of the square for
overall satisfaction and HP-to-mass ratio change con-
siderably as well as PC 1 and PC 2. Overall satisfac-
tion accounts for the most variance (6.5/11.51, from
Table 2) while PC 1 accounts for minor variance
(0.29/11.51), however, PC 1 accounts for a very large
amount of variance (3.42/11.51) by simply specifying
it as the first predictor.
If these predictors are orthogonal, as in a controlled
experiment, the sequence of the predictors specified in
regression does not affect the variance explained in a
regression model. The considerable changes in the
sequential sum of the square occur because the overall
satisfaction for a purchased vehicle and the HP-to-mass
ratio are well correlated with each other and they are
also well correlated to the two variation modes even
though PC 1 and PC 2 are orthogonal. It is subse-
quently found that the HP-to-mass ratio has correlation
coefficients of 0.62 with PC 1, 0.52 with overall vehicle
satisfaction, and 0.52 with PC 2. The considerable
changes in the sequential sum of square demonstrate the
difficulty of interpreting the partial regression coeffi-
cients as a measure of importance of engineering metrics
due to collinear predictors from observational data (i.e.
the individual effects of different transmission gear
ratio, aerodynamics, styling, or low rolling resistance
tire, etc.). This is in spite of the fact that variation infla-
tion factors are much smaller than the recommended
value of 5 or 10 and close to the ideal value of one.
1196
Figure 8. Two vehicles (a, b) that show the average ARS shape of all vehicles and two vehicles (c, d) with the largest difference in ARS.
In summary, the vehicle type is associated with only
one of the three customer satisfactions. The overall
satisfaction with purchased vehicles and the two modes
of acceleration are well associated with customer satis-
faction with acceleration. Vehicles that reach the peak
launch acceleration with short PD are associated with
low customer satisfaction, suggesting that some accel-
eration should be available. However, these findings
must be validated in controlled experiments.
Vehicles with high and low customer satisfaction
The ARS for the most and least preferred vehicles are
shown in Figure 9. V2, V66, and V77 are rated lowest
while V13, V48, and V49 show highest customer satis-
faction. V2 reaches peak launch acceleration of 0.5 g at
a very long 40 mm PD and thus might be perceived
sluggish. V2 is an example that uni-dimensional mea-
sure of peak launch acceleration is only a half-valid
measure if the peak launch acceleration is utilized
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without knowing the PD. V66 reaches its peak launch
acceleration of 0.3 g at 17.5 mm PD and remains flat
(no acceleration achievable after 17.5 mm PD). Thus,
overall acceleration is very low and it reaches its peak
launch acceleration with very short PD. V77 shows
similar behavior to V66; however, V77 shows accelera-
tion close to 0.2 g at 5 mm PD. This vehicle is very
aggressive in acceleration with very short PD, consider-
ing the fact that most vehicles’ peak launch acceleration
ranges between 0.3 g and 0.6 g. The areas of no accel-
eration (white area) for these three vehicles are large.
The three vehicles with highest customer satisfaction
(V13, V48 and V49) reach their peak acceleration of
around 0.6 g with 20 mm PD. These three vehicles still
have plenty of acceleration (e.g. 0.2 g) left beyond
160 km/h speed. Also, there are very few areas of no
acceleration.
Detail graphs of ARS for these vehicles are shown
in Figure 10, in which the side-views from vehicle speed
(first and third rows) and PD (second and fourth rows)
Lee and Kim 1197

Table 2. Regression of customer satisfaction for acceleration on the two variation modes.
Rate: engine power and acceleration = 3.14 – 0.0124 * Utility + 0.184 * Overall satisfaction with purchased vehicle.S + 0.083 * HP
to mass ratio.s + 0.106 * PC 1 + 0.083 * PC 2
(a)

Predictor Regression Standard error T-value p-value Variation inflation factor

coefficient of coefficient

Constant 3.140 0.027 114.73 0.000

Utility 20.012 0.046 20.27 0.786 1.04
Overall satisfaction with 0.184 0.030 6.13 0.000 1.80
purchased vehicle.S
HP to mass ratio.S 0.083 0.037 2.23 0.029 2.99
PC 1 0.106 0.031 3.36 0.001 2.04
PC 2 0.083 0.040 2.10 0.039 2.12

r-square = 77%, r-square (adjusted) = 75%, r-square (predicted) = 72%, standard error = 0.19.

(b)

Analysis of variance Degree of freedom Sum of square Mean sum of square F-value p-value

Regression 5 8.8143 1.7629 47.8 0

Residual error 73 2.6919 0.0369
Total 78 11.5062

(c) (d)

Sequence of Degree of Sequential sum Sequence of Degree of Sequential sum

predictors freedom of square predictors freedom of square

Utility 1 0.007 PC 1 1 3.4161

Overall satisfaction with
purchased vehicle.S
HP to mass ratio.S
PC 1
PC 2
1 6.549 PC 2
Utility
1 1.806 Overall satisfaction with
1 0.289 purchased vehicle.S
1 0.163 HP to mass ratio.S
1 3.5868
1 0.0081
1 1.6203
1 0.1829

are shown. These side-views are utilized to determine
the desired shapes of ARS and thus engineering specifi-
cations in the next section.
Some vehicles are designed to have aggressive
launch acceleration with short pedal displacement in
order to provide an impression to drivers that the
vehicle is fast and powerful. However, if this vehicle
reaches the maximum peak acceleration quickly and
thus limited capability for passing acceleration on the
highway, this vehicle would be perceived as sluggish.
See vehicle 77 in Figure 10.
Desired characteristics of ARS
The desired shapes of the ARS are deduced from the
variation mode and customer satisfaction and shown in
Figure 11, in which the minimum and maximum levels
of acceleration are derived for vehicle speed and PD
viewpoints. The peak launch acceleration of 0.6 g is
achieved between 0 km/h and 50 km/h at 40 mm PD
and is reduced to 0.2 g at 160 km/h (Figure 11(a)).
There are very few vehicles exceeding this shape in the
current automotive market, with the exception of very
expensive vehicles (i.e. beyond $100,000). Peak launch
acceleration lower than 0.4 g and decreasing thereafter
to zero acceleration at 130 km/h (i.e. 80 miles/h) is con-
sidered unsatisfactory due to insufficient acceleration
(danger zone in Figure 11(a)).
Based on the ARS of V13, V48, V49, V80, V82, V39,
and V55, the authors conclude that the launch accelera-
tion of 0.6 g at 20 mm PD seems to show the highest
customer satisfaction (Figure 11(b)). The level of peak
launch acceleration at 20 mm PD seems to be the
most important factor. Vehicles with 0.6 g peak launch
acceleration at 20 mm PD and less than 0.1 g accelera-
tion at 5 mm PD seem to show the highest buyer satis-
faction. Thus, the acceleration gain of 0.03 g/mm is
the desired value (acceleration divided by PD). Vehicles
with less than 0.4 g peak launch acceleration at 20 mm
PD also show low customer satisfaction. Vehicles
with more than 0.1 g at 5 mm PD seem to be perceived
as having a touchy acceleration pedal. Vehicles with
peak launch acceleration longer than 35 mm PD show
low customer satisfaction. Two acceleration gains from
PD and speed viewpoints, the area of no acceleration,
thus constant speed, need to be considered for passing
acceleration capability (Figure 11(c)). These findings
should be confirmed by controlled experiments.

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1198
Figure 9. Vehicles with low (V2, V66, V77) and high (V13, V48, V49) customer satisfaction.
It might prove an interesting subject to investigate
how the distribution of acceleration affects the customer
satisfaction from the top-view. It is recommended that
the acceleration should be shaped and distributed equally
and linearly for the acceleration between the slowest and
fastest ideal acceleration levels (intermediate PD and
vehicle speed). The rationale is that it is likely that cus-
tomers perceive liner shapes more easily than non-linear
shapes. Lee and Kim4 found that the linear shape of
pedal force, pedal travel, and response time are the most
desired shapes in braking system design.
Strength and weakness
The authors observe that the concept of PCA is diffi-
cult to comprehend due to its advanced mathematics.
In particular, people ask, ‘What is PC?’, or ‘What is the
measure of units for the x- and y-axis of the scatter
plot?’ It seems especially difficult to understand that
the x- and y-axes are linear combinations of the origi-
nal variables.
The extracted variation modes will vary depending on
the vehicles analyzed; therefore, a representative selection
of vehicles from the market should be used. However,
the 92 vehicles cover nearly the entire car and SUV mar-
ket segments in 2006 and 2007. All these vehicles are well
known in the automotive market. However, very few
pickups, vans, and high-performance sport vehicles are
included. Customer satisfaction with acceleration is also
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Proc IMechE Part D: J Automobile Engineering 226(9)
affected by several other factors (e.g. price, jerkiness,
smooth gearshift, etc.) but they are not analyzed.
Controlled experiments are necessary to confirm the
conclusions of this analysis. The two extracted modes
could be used as design parameters. Vehicles will be
configured to represent the extreme modes: (1) short/
long PD to reach peak launch acceleration, (2) the
high/low launch peak acceleration, and (3) high and
low acceleration at 5 mm PD. Participants will then
rate their satisfaction.
Summary
PCA was applied to understand the underlying varia-
tion modes of the ARS among 92 vehicles encompass-
ing the majority of the most important vehicles
currently in the market. The results showed that two
variation modes could represent the ARS well. The
first variation mode showed the overall level of accel-
eration (i.e. area under the ARS). The second varia-
tion mode indicates the short/long PD used to reach
peak launch acceleration with short PD. Customer
ratings on acceleration from internal marketing sur-
veys similar to Customer Reports and J.D. Power rat-
ings were regressed on the two variation modes. The
regression indicated that the two modes are well asso-
ciated with customer satisfaction. Ideal ARS shapes
are then developed. It is concluded that vehicles with
0.6 g peak launch acceleration at 20 mm PD (i.e.
Lee and Kim 1199

Figure 10. ARS from PD (second and fourth rows) and speed viewpoints for vehicles in Figure 9.
ARS: acceleration response surfaces; PD: pedal displacement.

acceleration gain of 0.06 g/20 mm) and less than 0.1 g
acceleration at 5 mm PD seem to show the highest
buyer satisfaction. Vehicles with less than 0.4 g peak
launch acceleration at 20 mm PD also show low cus-
tomer satisfaction. Vehicles with more than 0.1 g at
5 mm PD seem to have touchy pedals and thus low
customer satisfaction.
Currently, many engineering specifications utilize
only a few discrete points from transient and dynamic
vehicle performance measures (e.g. acceleration, brak-
ing, ride, handling, noise, vibration, etc.). Many activi-
ties have been carried out to respond to the
management request: ‘Which engineering metrics are
most important to customer satisfaction?’ If the

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1200
Figure 11. Desired characteristics and shapes of ARS.
PD: pedal displacement; ARS: acceleration response surfaces.
engineering metrics (i.e. response variables) do not cor-
rectly represent the multidimensional nature of vehicle
performances, such activities would tend to be subopti-
mal or even doubtful, even though controlled experi-
ments are applied. PCA can analyse transience and
multidimensionality, which down the road could prove
to be important design variables in controlled
experiments.
The underlying modes are extracted without consid-
ering the customer satisfaction. A methodology called
partial least square can modify the underlying modes
so that they can be maximally correlated with customer
satisfaction. However, this approach is not taken yet
because the customer satisfaction data from mail sur-
vey contains much noise and many confounding fac-
tors. Another method called parallel factor analysis
could be applied to consider the 3D arrays of 96 ARS,
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Proc IMechE Part D: J Automobile Engineering 226(9)
this method does not require that a 3D array be trans-
formed into a two-dimensional matrix.
Funding
This research received no specific grant from any fund-
ing agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit
sectors.
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