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Automotive steering wheels, which play an important role as a human machine interface, are evolving over time with numerous integrations and innovations. Thermoplastic steering wheel, one of the innovations in recent times, offers significant reduction in mass along with part integration and styling flexibility and is an excellent replacement to traditional metal armature steering wheels. Typical steering wheels need to meet many performance requirements before they enter production. With the advancement of computational mechanics and increase in computational capabilities, it has become much easier to evaluate and optimize steering wheel performance in different ways. Instead of manufacturing and running prototype tests, steering wheel designs can be modeled and optimized virtually in various scenarios using standard finite element analysis technique, thus facilitating faster development cycle.

Automotive OEM's are looking for innovative material solutions that will help them to reduce weight, thereby reduce carbon footprint. One such emerging area to meet this objective is glazing, where traditionally glass is used as the material. Polycarbonate which is an engineering thermoplastic has the potential to replace glass, providing 30 to 40% of weight saving. Two shot injection compression process is primarily adopted for manufacture of these large complex polycarbonate-glazing panels, in order to reduce residual stresses and clamp force. This involves combination of two processes, first the injection compression of clear panel and second overmolding of black out portion with integral features. Prediction of deformation of these molded large panels is a critical parameter for successful replacement of glass. A novel prediction methodology to address this critical parameter is discussed along with comparison of results with experimentation.

Heat transfer between the ambient and the air in a vehicle cabin determines the nominal steady state load on the vehicle's heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system, a significant factor for vehicle efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions. This paper highlights the effect of glazing (i.e. window) thermal conductivity on steady state heat transfer, with high and low thermal conductivities represented respectively by monolithic glass and standard polycarbonate. Computational fluid dynamics simulations are summarized for a model car cabin including HVAC vents, interior seating, and a rooflite. Passenger and moisture effects are not included. Monthly temperature and radiation data for Phoenix, Arizona and Minneapolis, Minnesota are used to define hot and cold climate scenarios.

Reduced battery discharge rates in electric vehicles (EV) tend to extend single-cycle range as well as battery lifetime. Vehicle features that tend to reduce battery discharge rate thus support viability of EV. Of special interest are features that reduce the load on the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system since that system can in turn impose a significant load on EV batteries. A companion paper quantifies the effect on steady state nominal HVAC load of glazing (i.e. window) thermal conductivity using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to simulate heat transfer between the ambient and the air in a model car cabin when the cabin air is maintained at a comfortable temperature. For hot and cold climate, and for stationary and moving cars, reductions in HVAC load resulted from replacing a monolithic glass backlite and rooflite with polycarbonate (PC), the latter with a five-fold lower inherent thermal conductivity.

High repair cost and the subsequent increase in insurance cost in a highly competitive automobile market have forced every automobile original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to comply with the FMVSS and ECE-42 regulatory requirements of low-speed vehicle damageability. Although, the terminologies used are different, similar regulatory requirements also exist in Asia-pacific region. At the rear side, reducing the damage to expensive vehicle components in a low-speed pendulum impact or a low-speed barrier impact can attain a good rating for low-speed vehicle damageability. This paper focuses on a detailed study of various lightweight plastic rear beam designs and their effectiveness in reducing the damage to the vehicle during low-speed vehicle-to-vehicle collision or vehicle to barrier collision.