Int. J. Vehicle Design, Vol. 53, Nos. 1/2, 2010 89 Copyright © 2010 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of passenger seats and their impact on different vehicle models Aleksandar Subic*, Francesco Schiavone, Martin Leary and Jack Manning School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria 3803, Australia E-mail: Aleksandar.Subic@rmit.edu.au E-mail: Francesco.Schiavone@rmit.edu.au E-mail: Martin.Leary@rmit.edu.au *Corresponding author Abstract: The main purpose of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to date has been to evaluate life cycle impacts of different design solutions and materials for a car, its sub-systems and components. Considerable number of publications are available on LCA of automotive components. This research aims to extend the LCA approach by evaluating and comparing the effects of mass reduction of passenger seats for different vehicle models in order to provide strategic support for decision making in the development process and to validate the environmental benefits of design alternatives under investigation. For this purpose, the paper presents a comprehensive LCA of passenger seats with detailed consideration of alternative scenarios for the use phase for different vehicle models. Keywords: LCA; life cycle assessment; use phase; mass reduction; passenger seat; vehicle design. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Subic, A., Schiavone, F., Leary, M. and Manning, J. (2010) ‘Comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of passenger seats and their impact on different vehicle models’, Int. J. Vehicle Design, Vol. 53, Nos. 1/2, pp.89–109. Biographical notes: Aleksandar Subic is the Head of School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. He is also at present Director of SAE-A and Education Director of AutoCRC. He has over 20 years of active involvement in design research with particular focus in recent years on sustainable design and green car technologies. He has published over 200 international peer reviewed journal articles, book chapters and books, and conference papers and has undertaken a wide range of high impact research projects in collaboration with industry. He is the Chair of the International Conference series on Sustainable Automotive Technologies and Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Sustainable Design. Francesco Schiavone is a Senior Research Fellow at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. He has completed his PhD at University of Florence, Italy in collaboration with Rieter focusing on sustainable design strategies