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A vehicle fitted with a sunroof has structural challenges due to the mountings of the assembly with the Body-In-White parts. The major challenges include water leakage, noise and durability issues. This results in warranty issues and cost penalties for the Original Equipment Manufacturer. The focus of this paper is to address the challenges due to the mounting issues in the sunroof. The clinching process of the sunroof panels results in the reduction of the contact area for the clamping process. This reduction could result in bolt slippage either during the assembly of the vehicle or during the operating conditions. The sunroof module is also prone to cracks and bulging, due to bolt slippage. The Virtual engineering simulation used in this study represents the clinching process and the variations in the surface of the body panels. In addition, the clamping of the Body-In-White to the sunroof module is represented for the assembly torque considering the frictional characteristics.

The wheel impact test evaluates wheel structural performance for a typical lateral curb impact event occurring in passenger cars and light trucks. This test which is as per SAE J -175 standard has a striker dropped from a specified height on to a fixture mounted wheel-tire assembly. This impact test performance is critical to meeting overall structural performance for the wheel. There are many processes and methods available to simulate impact tests using FE analysis and in this study, certain existing methods are fine tuned to facilitate improved correlation with aforementioned lab test. Abaqus explicit is used in the simulation process and FE analysis-test correlation is achieved within 3% (strain gauge measurements). The improved method closely captures the behavior of the wheel during and after impact including capturing the variation of bolt pretension during the impact test. The wheel width before and after impact is another parameter used to compare analysis and test results.