....Typical family cars have become more than a foot wider and almost double the weight over the past 50 years as manufacturers struggle with the world’s obesity crisis.
Consequently some luxury manufacturers have begun road-testing the next generation of larger-sized vehicles.
Officials say will allow bigger people to maintain their comfort on the road.
In plans dubbed “plump my ride” – in a play of words from the television show Pimp My Ride – BMW has recruited 800 volunteers, ranging from the slim to the obese, for a study to gauge how obesity affects mobility while driving.
The unnamed volunteers were last week put through a series of tests designed in part to examine factors such as getting in and out of cars or looking over their shoulder while reversing.
"People are getting more obese and we want to find out how that limits their range of motion and how our vehicles can adapt to the changing needs of our customers,” Ralf Kaiser, a member of BMW's ergonomics team, told the Sunday Times.
“We know that a lot of overweight and obese people have problems in daily life, and in the car this starts with getting in and getting out.
