The Challenge
In the North American market, the roof console sunglasses holder was only capable of holding up to 30 percentile glasses. This meant it could not store many of the larger, modern styles of sunglasses in use today. The issue was not just limited to storage capacity, but also fall out, while opening the holder and retention, in extreme uphill driving conditions. The storage opening itself was not large enough to comfortably place or remove larger glasses, reducing both convenience and usability.
The target was to store sunglasses for occupants at the 80th percentile size, provide an opening large enough for easy placement and removal, allow the holder to be opened without the glasses falling out, and ensure the overstroke of the holder lock was secure while closing.
Our Solution
To address these limitations, the internal size of the holder was redesigned to fit and securely retain at least 80 percentile of the glasses in the market.
The process began by scanning thirty sunglasses of various sizes, shapes, and styles, and converting them into 3D models. These models were placed inside the holder, in its open position, to create a representative envelope of the space required. The centre of gravity (CG) of this envelope was determined, representing the CG for all sunglasses under the 80 percentile. A prototype was then built to confirm that the strategy would work under real-world conditions. From this, a design guideline was created to define the necessary internal dimensions of the holder.
The Outcome
The result was a holder envelope capable of fitting up to 80 percentile glasses, which became the design standard. A key retention parameter, denoted as value “a,” was defined as the distance from the CG of the envelope to the outer edge of the holder. This measurement ensured that glasses would remain securely inside, even when the holder was open during extreme uphill driving conditions. The new design resolved the original capacity and retention issues, while making the sunglasses holder more practical and reliable for a wider range of users.
