Powertrain Driveability

Driveability is the result of a system's interaction between the powertrain, the vehicle, and the customer. Driveability concerns can arise in any mode of operation and have a common factor that all are the result of a change in engine/torque speed. Driveability is a key customer-driven Powertrain attribute. Improving Driveability is critical to improving customer satisfaction and competitiveness of vehicles.

All Powertrain Product Development engineers must know how their area of subsystem responsibility could affect vehicle Driveability. This 3-hour Ford online course will provide knowledge of Driveability fundamentals. With this knowledge, you can better determine actions to improve the customer's perception of Driveability. Although the focus of this course (including all examples and animations) is on vehicles with gasoline engines and automatic transmissions, it should be noted that vehicles with other powertrains (e.g., diesel engine, manual transmission, front-wheel drive) share the same customer attributes and general characteristics of Driveability. While certain Ford proprietary information has been removed from the course, it contains essentially the same content that engineers from Ford and select suppliers have benefitted from taking.

By participating in this online course, you will be able to:

• Listen to the Voice of the Customer (VOC)
• Describe how the customer defines good driveability, how customer driveability concerns are researched, and how customer wants cascade to vehicle performance characteristics
• Discuss the vehicle reaction that causes customer driveability concerns and the vehicle systems and interfaces that are involved
• Appreciate driveability from an engineering perspective
• List subsystems that affect driveability
• Highlight the impact of future technologies
• Explain how driveability is measured and how these measurements are correlated back to customer concerns

Major topics include:

• The Customer's Perspective
• Systems and Interfaces that Impact Driveability
• Evaluating a Vehicle's Driveability Performance

Authors: Ford Powertrain Engineering, Ford Learning & Development

Is this SAE/Ford online course for you?
This course is geared toward quality, manufacturing, and product development engineers. It is recommended that you have an engineering degree and experience in the automotive engineering field.

This is an internet-delivered short course featuring graphical presentation screens with text-based instruction, a glossary, and references. Case studies, summaries, and checks for knowledge are incorporated throughout the course to reinforce learning and retention and gauge your understanding of a topic before you move forward.

With your registration, you will receive three months of online access to the 3-hour presentation.

Equipment Requirements

• Pentium PC 300 MHZ
• Minimum 128 MB RAM
• Internet Explorer 6.0 & above browser recommended
• Adobe Flash Player 8 or above required
• Broadband-128Kbps and above (Minimum: Cable or DSL connection)
• Windows 2000, XP, Vista
• 1024 X 768 screen resolution

Quantity discounts for six or more students and Site License options also are available - complete a Corporate Learning Solutions Request Form for a quote.

For more detail, email CustomerService@sae.org; or call
1-877-606-7323 (U.S. and Canada) or 724-776-4970 (outside US and Canada).