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As a new vehicle is based on common vehicle platform, the durability problems of chassis components in development stage are decreasing. However a vehicle body structure is changed by exterior design and a chassis and a suspension are tuned by vehicle performance targets. The main issue on developing a new vehicle is to satisfy the durability target of a body structure and tuned suspension components. The accuracy of durability Computer Aided Engineering analysis is mainly depending on the accuracy of input loads and boundary conditions on suspension system. The input loads should be estimated accurately. These could be changed by vehicle specifications such as vehicle weight, wheel base and so on. It is also affected by the change of suspension types and tuning parameters. This paper presents the experimental parametric study results using road load data analysis techniques.

Hood opening systems are usually composed of several parts, such as a release handle, a release cable, and a latch. In this paper, the main cause of ‘fail-to-open’ or ‘hard-to-open’ problem in hood opening system is presented. The test mode was also developed to reproduce these problems. The reproduced failure mode was the same as that of field problems. Moreover, the design guides for preventing these problems are also described.

Vehicle body structures are formed by thousands of spot welds, and fatigue failure of vehicle structures occur near the spot welds after driving a long way at a durability test road. It is necessary to know accurately the reason of the fatigue failure of the spot weld in the developing stage in order to reinforce it. Many investigations have been done regarding the strength of spot welded joints, contributing to understand its fatigue strength. In the developing process, a fatigue failed spot welded area can be repaired by CO2 welding or another method to continue the test. To know the effect of reinforcing these welds, several methods of welding were analyzed and compared to spot welding. With the results of this test, the appropriate repair method can be used instead of spot welding during the development of a new car and the best design guide can be given for the strength.