[Drivingforfun]

I often get car sick, and I have very unscientifically noticed it seems to happen in cars with softer, more comfortable suspension. However, there's always been something corrupting the observation so I can never pin it down to JUST the suspension being different.

Is suspension understood or known to be a factor? I guess softer suspension is perhaps like being on a boat where seasickness can take hold?

[Nick]

Hey @Drivingforfun, I came across this article which seems to confirm what you suggest about suspension. I'd never thought of suspension in the mix for this before. I've generally been ok, and I'm not a sailor, so anything like sea sickness will likely get me.

I'm assuming this is when you're a passenger? Just in the front or also in rear? My son used to get quite car sick when travelling and I think it was a little to do with his line of sight and the rear of the car at the time being quite low down (I had an Astra at the time). Once we figured that as being a possible cause I bought an SUV (Vauxhall Grandland) and I don't believe we've had any issues with car sickness since.

[Rolebama]

I used to work with a guy whose nickname was Salty. This was because there were occasions when he would drive people to and from jobs off-site. He was noted as a very safe driver, but he couldn't get the knack of cruising, so his foot was on and off the throttle constantly. This caused a few of the staff problems with an agreed diagnosis that they always felt like seasickness when they went out with him.
But I would agree that softer suspension does seem to be a factor in travel sickness.

[olduser]

Motion sickness, is usually caused by a mismatch between the signals going to the brain, eyes say you are going straight ahead on a level road but the balance system in your ears are reporting a different motion say up/down due to long travel soft suspension. A child sitting in the back seat may not be able to see ahead, so vision is restricted but ears will detect up, down, turning left, right but with no confirmation from vision.

A possible cure, is to arrange for them to travel in the front.

If the child/adult has a long history of motion sickness, it may well be psychosomatic, I am in a moving car therefore I should be sick.

Another possible 'cure' is distraction of some sort.

[Santa]

[QUOTE=olduser;

Another possible 'cure' is distraction of some sort.[/QUOTE]

Which is why we create car games. Spot the Eddie (Stobart) wouldn't work these days, but counting cows might. First to spot ???? is a good one.

As soon as they were old enough, we got our kids map-reading. If time were not a problem, I would follow their directions, even when I knew a better route.

[Drivingforfun]

It's always when I'm a passenger, with one exception which was the only time I've driven an electric car. I don't know if that was just correlation but maybe the engine noise & vibrations are somehow grounding to the nervous system? We've likely all developed that association since being put in cars as babies, but of course could be coincidence!

[olduser]

Originally Posted by Drivingforfun

It's always when I'm a passenger, with one exception which was the only time I've driven an electric car. I don't know if that was just correlation but maybe the engine noise & vibrations are somehow grounding to the nervous system? We've likely all developed that association since being put in cars as babies, but of course could be coincidence!

Or nervous tension, new car, first EV, having to concentrate all the time. (no gear change, no clutch, very little noise, very responsive accelerator)