The aim of this research is to figure out design variables that have an effect on user satisfaction for the operation of automotive switch and to investigate the relative importance of the variables and the utility of attribute level. To achieve these goals, an empirical evaluation was made through operating of automotive switchs. First, five design variables were selected for the external design elements and the internal design variables of switch were chosen based on the opinions of design experts and previous studies. Next, an experiment was designed using the fractional factorial design for 18 alternatives by 5 design variables (stroke, peak force, drop force, angle of surface, and curvature) that affect user satisfaction. Then, the level of satisfaction of each alternative were evaluated on 100-point scale by 22 subjects. Finally, ANOVA was conducted to verify the significant level of the 5 design variables of the automotive switch. A conjoint analysis was used to investigate the relative importance of each design variable by the utility of attribute level. As a result, the design variables turned out to be of significant importance. Moreover, the result showed relative importance for each design variable and utility of attribute level. It is expected that the results of this study could be utilized to improve the affective quality of the automotive switch.

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