The development of a safe vehicle must recognize the requirement to maintain that level of safety for the designl ife of the vehicle. Whilst secondary safety, i,e. occupant protection is to a large part determined by the design team, primary safety, i.e. accident avoidance. has in the past been the ultimate responsibility of the owner/driver.

In recenty ears with new developments this situation has begun to change with the provision by the manufacturer of systems to aid accident avoidance:​ antilock braking is perhaps the most obvious example. This paper proposes that another important aspect of primary safety where the motor manufacture can significantly aid the owner is in the area of vehicle maintenance. Recent major developments in automotive electronics hold the potential to provide real assistance to the driver in monitoring the condition of the vehicle and thereby encourage good maintenance and safety.

The paper refers to new research by the Automotive Ergonomics Unit at the Institute for Consumer Ergonomics in the area of in-car driver information systems. It briefly discusses the ergonomics of alternative warning or attention getting devices and driver information systems. Drawing further upon the latest research it compares alternative methods of message presentation such as voice synthesis and alphanumeric displays. The paper concludes that ergonomic recommendations for driver information systems can be valuable in encouraging maintenance and thereby enhancing vehicle safety.