ARCCA is called upon to investigate failures, ergonomics and vibrational exposure issues with tractor seating. In one case, a seated tractor operator fell rearward out of the tractor when he encountered an unanticipated ditch and was seriously injured by the trailing bushhog.
An ARCCA reconstructionist was asked to reconstruct the motion of the tractor and the corresponding forces applied to the operator. A seat expert demonstrated that a defective seat design permitted the seat to break and the operator to fall out of the occupant compartment. They developed a feasible, alternate design and tested both the production and alternate designs using the forces calculated by the reconstructionist. It was determined that the alternate design was feasible and would not have failed under those circumstances. An engineer also designed a dead man switch for the tractor which would have prevented serious injury to the operator even if he did fall from the occupant compartment.