1. Raise the seat to a comfortable position. To sit correctly, you should have an upright seating position.

2. Tip the seat forward. This increases the chance of an upright position.

3.Tilt the backrest backward so that the hip angle is at 100 to 110 degrees. This means that the centre of gravity of the body is closer to the spine, which relieves the load on the discs and spinal joints and reduces the load on the hip joints.

4. Set the lumbar support so that it follows the shape of your back.

5. Adjust the seat to a fist’s width away from the back of your knees.

6. Move the entire seat to a position where you can press down the pedals fully without straining.

7. With the adjustable steering column position, adjust the steering wheel so it’s as close as possible to your body. This reduces the forward torsion on your body, relieving the load on your back and neck.

Be sure to register for Scania Driver Competition 2012

• Time: Many drivers do not spend enough time adjusting their seats properly. Allow yourself a couple of minutes to really take advantage of all the possibilities before driving.
• Variation: Many drivers ‘get stuck’ in the same driving position. Try to vary the position – “the best driving position is the next position.”

Source: Vehicle ergonomics department at Scania

According to WHO’s official statistics, nearly 100,000 people in China were killed in traffic accidents during 2009. Millions of others were hurt, and many suffered injuries that will affect them for life. Although the annual fatality rate has declined in recent years, the figures are still very high, due in part to overloaded trucks and poorly trained professional drivers.

“The biggest problem is that the authorities have not regulated drivers’ working hours,” says Mats Harborn, executive director of the Scania China Strategy Office. “Many serious accidents here in China occur because drivers have fallen asleep behind the wheel.

“Chinese authorities are making major investments aimed at improving road safety,” he explains. “But infrastructure issues are handled by several different decision-making bodies and unfortunately there is too little coordination between them.”

Scania Driver Competitions promote road safety
In keeping with Scania’s concept, Scania China focuses on the impact of drivers on transport economy, the environment and road safety. One step that Scania China has taken to help improve road safety has been to lower the comfort temperature in Scania’s truck cabs. A slightly lower temperature in the cab reduces the risk that a driver will fall asleep at the wheel.

In October 2010, Scania carried out its first-ever driver competitions in China, which attracted great attention. The purpose was to boost the status of drivers and generate greater interest in road safety issues among Chinese authorities, the transport industry and the public.

The national final took place late in October 2010 in Hangzhou, about 180 kilometres south-west of Shanghai. Zhong Weiping, editor of Commercial Motor World, one of China’s leading automotive magazines, was impressed by Scania’s focus on drivers.

“Scania’s view that the driver is the master of his truck is both exciting and much-needed here in China,” he says. “No other organisation is working to increase the professional skills of drivers, and I hope that Scania’s driver competitions will be an inspiration for further efforts.”

4 trends in China’s transport sector:

1. The motorway network is expanding.
2. There are stricter inspections to prevent overloaded trucks.
3. Fuel economy is becoming more and more important.
4. Private transport companies are increasingly demanding premium vehicles.

Source: Zheng Jing Fang, owner, Huzhou Xinda International Logistics

 A caring future giant

With highly skilled drivers and Scania vehicles, Zheng Jing Fang intends to take a big step forward to become one of China’s logistics giants.

Zheng Jing Fang, owner, Huzhou Xinda International Logistics

Huzhou Xinda International Logistics, headquartered a few dozen kilometres west of Shanghai, will assume a leading position in China in the next few years if the company’s owner, Zheng Jing Fang, gets his way. With its own harbour in the middle of the Yangtze River delta and several strategically important motorways nearby, Huzhou Xinda is well situated for success.

“To achieve our goal, we must take such concepts as quality and efficiency to a completely new level for China,” Zheng says. “With imported premium vehicles and better driver conditions than the rest of the industry, we can recruit and retain the best drivers. Too few transport companies have realised that it pays to invest in drivers here in China.”

Like so many other private hauliers, Zheng started his business under simple conditions, by hauling asparagus in a Jiefang Liberation, a small domestic truck. As the economy grew, he expanded his fleet and his business into what it is today, with imported Scania tractor units.

He now plans to seriously challenge the biggest logistics companies in China, which includes plans for building many new logistics centres around the country.

“Companies that don’t keep up with developments will disappear,” Zheng says.

This is where drivers enter the picture. The success of a haulier is determined behind the wheel.

“Skilled drivers may soon be completely crucial to revenue, which in turn requires a completely different management style,” he continues. “If you want to retain highly skilled drivers, you can’t treat them the way they are often treated today.”

A Scania R 420 equipped with Opticruise came out on top when German truck magazine Trucker recently tested automated gearboxes.

Four journalists from Germany, Italy and Spain test-drove five trucks with automated gearboxes along a 120 kilometre route.

The test route included motorways, curvy country roads, hills, roundabouts and junctions – perfect for evaluating automated gearboxes since every lap required many gearchanges. The automated gearboxes were graded according to the following criteria: ease-of-handling, automatic functions, add-on functions and special stages.

Opticruise in a nut-shell (according to the test team): Very good gear-changing strategy; optimal integration of downhill speed control; laid out for active driving; programmable starting gear; good clutch control.

The five trucks tested came from five manufacturers: DAF, Iveco, Mercedes, Scania and Volvo. This, in fact, meant four different systems were analysed: ZF AS-Tronic (DAF and Iveco), Mercedes Powershift, Scania Opticruise and Volvo I-shift. With the exception of Scania Opticruise, all were purpose-designed automated gearboxes.

The table below shows the test team’s positive and negative comments on each of the automated gearboxes.

The 1,000 Point Test is one of Europe’s largest comparative truck tests and, according to many, the toughest. It involves an international team of truck journalists who score the trucks subjectively in combination with objective measuring.

German Lastauto Omnibus notes the ability of Scania to cruise at low revs.

Organised by Germany’s ETM Verlag, whose publications include the magazines Lastauto Omnibus and Fernfahrer, the 1,000 Point Test is carried out in cooperation with Spain’s Transporte Mundial, Great Britain’s Commercial Motor and the Netherlands’ Truckstar. Articles about the test are published in trade magazines in at least 10 other countries as well.

The test runs along a 180-kilometre route in south-west Germany, a hilly part of the scenic Mosel valley.

In the 1,000 Point Test that took place in late 2010, the focus was to compare fleet trucks producing around 400 hp. A Scania G 420 Highline faced three other tractors: a Mercedes Axor 1840 LS with 396 hp, a MAN TGS 18.400 LX with 394 hp and a Volvo FM 410 Globetrotter with 405 hp.

The seating position of the Scania G 420 is best in class, writes British Commercial Motor.

Scania was the overall winner, earning a total of 941 – nine points ahead of the closest contender. The Scania G-series tractor received especially high points in the economy, performance and cab categories. In economy, the Scania almost reached a perfect score – 133 out of 135 points.

In Commercial Motor’s December 2010 issue Colin Barnett summed up the results: “This year’s test was won by an even bigger margin than last year, 35 points separating the field, but the winner stays the same, as Scania once more takes home the spoils of victory.”

Lastauto Omnibus notes the ability of Scania to cruise at low revs “… with the result that Scania wins the fuel consumption evaluation by a comfortable margin.”

Frank Zeiten of Lastauto Omnibus also points out the Scania’s superior qualities in hilly terrain, saying: “Despite a very long rear axle ratio … Scania is the fastest of the quartet on the hilly course.” He points out that the main reason for the much higher average speed of Scania is found “in the high torque and its very broad, constant progress.”

In addition to economy, Scania received high marks for driver appeal and the cab. “Driving the Scania is very good,” writes Commercial Motor. “The steering gives a good feeling of the road, while visibility around the cab in the mirrors is good.”

“The seating position behind the unique adjustable steering wheel is still the best in class, and that all adds up to making this G 420 the winner of our 1,000 Point Test,” the magazine concludes.

The Scania G-series tractor received especially high points in the economy, performance and cab categories.

By gathering all the controls related to traction – differential lock, traction control and weight transfer – into one three button panel, Scania engineers and designers aimed to simplify the driver experience.

On bumpy roads it’s critical to have intuitive panel functions.

“Previously, toggle switches to activate or deactivate each differential lock on each axle were spread out on the dashboard on the non-gearchanging side of the driver’s seat. On 8×8s, it was like playing an organ,” says engineer Tomas Östlund, who lead the development of the new traction panel.

“With the new ergonomic design and better positioning of the traction panel on the dashboard, including a rotary difflock switch to click through differential lock settings. Pushing the rotary switch will activate off-road traction control. All of these important driver choices can be activated or deactivated without taking one’s eye off the road.”

Adjacent to the rotary switch are controls for lifting the tag axle or transferring weight between bogie axles, either all at once, or progressively. Immediate feedback on all traction
changes is easily understood in the instrument cluster with arrows showing pending differential lock engagements or disengagements, for example.

The rotary difflock switch, basically a knob, has one position for each and every differential lock sequence depending on the number of axles on the truck.

“And a knob is easier to hold onto on a bumpy road,” says Östlund. “This easy-to-use and intuitive traction panel which combines traction control, differential lock and weight transfer in one place is unique to Scania. But you still have to drive carefully till everything is engaged or disengaged.”

Fast and intuitive

In the centre of the panel module is the switch for the differential locks. Pushing it will engage off-road traction control.

Differential lock engagement is indicated in three stages in the instrument cluster: pending engagement, full engagement and pending disengagement. Brief popups signal the engagement of front-wheel-drive and low gear in the transfer box. After a couple of seconds, the display reverts to the differential lock view. Examples:

One difflock pending engagement	Two difflocks engaged, one pending	All difflocks engaged
Popup: Frontwheel-drive activated	Popup: Low gear in transfer box

A 27-page booklet in 17 languages describes for emergency response crews the ins and outs of Scania P-, G- and R-series trucks.

Emergency response crews like firefighters use the ‘Product information for emergency services’ booklet for training.

Knowing where to cut in a mangled mess – gaining access away from the cable harnesses. See page 15 of the handbook.

The intention is to become familiar with onboard systems to be better prepared when responding to an accident.

Subjects covered include opening the front grille, locating the engine air intake and cab air suspension hoses, the electrical system, safety equipment like airbags and belt tensioners, cab dimensions and weight, adjusting seats and steering wheel, vehicle fluids and overall cab structure.

“It is about gaining access to the interior of the truck to save a life in case of an accident,” says engineer Bengt Edlund, who authored the booklet together with technical information officer Anders Ankarberg in May 2009.

The booklet grew out of an informal survey of emergency response crews in Sweden and Norway asking them what information would be helpful to them when responding to an accident involving a Scania truck.
“Our ambition was not to tell emergency responders how to do their job. We just wanted to show them what a Scania truck looks like underneath everything and where to find things,” says Edlund.

Tips and examples

• Spraying the engine air intake with carbon dioxide stops the engine. Air intakes are located either under the grille on the passenger side of the engine, or high up behind the cab.

• To stabilise the cab before a rescue, there is room on the backside of the cab for two adjustable jacks to prevent the cab from falling backwards. And a convenient hole in the chassis allows a heavy-duty belt to be attached preventing the cab from falling forward.

• A schematic of the cables in the cab shows them running around the windshield and floor. Don’t cut there if you think you need the electrical system at a later stage or if you are afraid of short circuiting the system.

• Hinges for the doors can be accessed through the grille. Caution: Doors can weigh 60 kilograms.

• A mechanical backup system exists to move the steering wheel up or down. A hexagon key is located in the box under the steering wheel.

• The rear bulkhead of the cab can be used to anchor a hydraulic press and won’t crumble under pressure.

Download the booklet: www.scania.com/emergency-services

Designers, stylists and ergonomists have helped make the driver’s environment in the new R-series as comfortable, ergonomic, safe and modern as possible.

The objective has been to improve every aspect of driver environment. To help the driver while on the road, designers have found smart solutions for easily accessible storage, and have improved the design of controls and instruments.

The whole interior is characterised by higher-quality materials and harmonious colour schemes, with a wide range of options to adapt the style to personal taste.

The truck also offers substantially improved sleeping comfort.

A stable, completely flat foldout table on the passenger side for working on a laptop computer or having a meal.

New steering wheel buttons give the driver access to cruise control, radio and on-board computer functions.

A coffee maker that can be factory-installed on the dashboard.

An extendable bed with adjustable width and hardness (730 to 900 millimetres).

Related content

Visit the new Scania R-series website
View new Scania R-series videos at Youtube

Hanna Johansson, Head of Vehicle Ergonomics

What did you hope to achieve with the new interior?
“A comprehensive approach to the driver’s environment. The new interior feels fresh, and its functionality has been adapted to a driver’s everyday needs. The choice of materials also provides a solid sense of quality.”

What do the innovations in the interior mean to Scania’s customers?
“A substantially better, safer and more comfortable working environment. We have retained the features that drivers appreciate, for example Scania’s unique driving position, while greatly improving the functionality of the driver environment. We have grouped functions together and improved storage spaces easily accessible to drivers, in order to minimise the time that their eyes are not on the road.”

What are you most proud of?
“The collaboration between different departments. Form, function, design and market specialists have worked together with a focus on the customer. The best example is our innovative solution for the extendable bed. Our driving ambition has been to live up to the wishes of our customers. They are worth it.”

Related content

Visit the new Scania R-series website
View new Scania R-series videos at Youtube