Remora has sent in a link to a story reporting that carmakers around the globe are struggling with designs to suit people who are getting larger, in both height and breadth, while reducing vehicle weight to help meet fuel efficiency standards.

In Japan, Nissan has created a “fat suit” that can be worn to allow physically smaller and healthier engineers to experience new designs the way fatter and older folks in other countries do.

The special suit makes the wearer less flexible at the neck, knees, ankles and elbows and, according to Nissan, a 5cm-thick waist belt does an excellent job of duplicating the middle-aged spread.
Design engineer Etsuhiro Watanabe said: “As we get older, it can become harder to perform physical maneuvers.

“It’s not always practical to recruit older motorists for product research, so these special suits allow Nissan’s engineers and designers to come up with solutions.”