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For several decades the majority of vehicle floor coverings have been designed around traditional carpet with an increased emphasis on covering the sheet metal with acoustic treatments. Current global vehicle design initiatives provide new challenges and these are directed towards the review of current product design in the light of vehicle life style concepts and vehicle life cycle requirements. At the same time practical solutions are needed to address global cost competitiveness. This paper gives a historic overview of automotive floor covering development from start to present and outlines current trends in new material and flooring concepts. It discusses technologies and product design approaches that are applicable to a more eco based carpet design and the covering of vehicle surfaces whilst meeting the global cost and practical key performance criteria for future vehicles.

The environmental issues are mounting for a global automotive industry associated with ever-increasing output. Major issues include fuel consumption, vehicle emissions, consumption of non-renewable materials, and recycling of waste materials. This paper provides an overview of recent advances in new acoustic materials based on recycled and sustainable sources for “environmental” vehicle sound packages that address NVH and trim acoustics requirements. Thanks to new eco-design standards, both the OEM and suppliers can increase and improve eco-friendly aspects such as recycling end of life vehicles. The use of end of life materials in a new car includes: automotive shredded residue (ASR) such as tire fibers included in damping materials, chips foam from seats for acoustical shields, and automotive shredded residue for acoustical dash insulators.

For generations, fiber felt technologies have been used as a building block in the development of various absorbers and decoupler composites used for automotive acoustics. This development has led to a variety of felt components with increasing complexity in their differentiations. This paper will review the evolution of three generations of felt technologies. Generation 1 and 2 will discuss needled, resinated, and thermoplastic fibers bonded felts by comparing various performance indexes from physical parameters of raw materials, manufacturing processes, product applications and physical characterization along with acoustic properties. Generation 3 will introduce strategies, technologies, and approaches to further simplify the multitude of fiber felt innovations.