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There are such outside door handles called smart handles which have a transmitting antenna, a lock/unlock sensor, and a sensor detection circuit, with which operation of door lock is possible just by "touching" the electrostatic-capacitance type sensor of the handles.As the design of the outside handles, body color painting and Cr plating are adopted. However, if plating is applied over the entire surface of a smart handle, electromagnetic waves transmitted from the antenna will be blocked since plating material is electrically conductive. In addition to this, touching a part other than the sensor may change the electrostatic-capacitance of the sensor, which results in unwanted functioning of the lock/unlock sensor. Because of this, only part of the handle, which does not hinder the transmission of electromagnetic waves and does not cause unwanted functioning, is covered by plating, that is called, "Partially plated specifications" (Figure 1).

This paper reports the results of a study into a preview control that uses the displacement of the road surface in front of the vehicle to improve for front and rear actuator responsiveness delays, as well as delays due to calculation, communication, and the like. This study also examined the effect of a preview control using the eActive3 electric active suspension system, which is capable of controlling the roll, pitch, and warp modes of vehicle motion.

We have developed a Hall effect device based height sensor of a smaller size, and with higher temperature operation durability, as compared to conventional devices. Downsizing of the sensor is realized by decreasing a number of parts, and by employing a short bearing. Improvement in heat resistance is achieved by adopting an IC with sufficient heat resistance and a SmCo magnet with high coercive force. In addition, a sensor of a high degree of accuracy is accomplished by improvements in linearity and robustness of magnetic characteristics. Development of a small, heat-resistant and accurate height sensor will promote the spread of systems using a height sensor, such as a High Intensity Discharge (HID) headlamp.

It is well known that the self-aligning torque decreases before lateral force is saturated. Focusing on this self-aligning torque change, an estimation method has been developed to detect the friction condition between steered wheels and road surface before the lateral force reaches the friction limit. The lateral grip margin (LGM) is defined based on the self-aligning torque change, which is obtained using the EPS torque and motor current information. The LGM is theoretically analyzed based on the tire model and experimentally verified through the full-scale vehicle test. Moreover, the estimated LGM is applied for the chassis control systems to improve the vehicle dynamics performance.

A newly developed parking assist system, which is based on rear view camera, is disclosed. System features include ‘parallel parking aid’ with voice guidance message along with several guidelines superimposed onto the rear view camera image. Voice guide message helps driver understand appropriate timing for each procedure of parallel parking. The system was designed to let driver follow the system by voice message rather than visual guide information through the screen for safety reason. The guide algorism is designed under ‘two turns’ parking maneuvers so that required longitudinal parking space becomes minimal. A key development of this system, which is to design the guide algorism to avoid collision to adjacent vehicle during parallel parking operation, is also discussed in this paper. User can select either ‘parallel guide’ or ‘normal (such as garage parking)’ mode through touch screen switch on display surface.

One of the problems concerning T/M is conventionally how “Improving the input torque as the engine gets higher power” and “Making product lighter in weight and more compact to improve the fuel consumption” can be realized at the same time. To realize these things at the same time, it is needless to say that the gears must be stronger. For the “pitting fatigue strength” which is quoted as a problem lately, the fatigue mechanism has not been clarified, yet. Therefore, it is now a big problem how to achieve high strength. In the meantime, we tried to develop the production engineering for “finer crystal grains” and “fine-dispersion precipitation of carbo-nitrides,” and succeeded in improving “pitting fatigue strength” remarkably. Such results will be reported in the following sections:

This paper describes the investigation into the contact pressure and incidental deformation on the contact surface of the piston skirt which comes in contact with the cylinder bore in operation. Focused on the single piston static tests in the first place, relationship between the contact pressure on said skirt and the strains developed inside the skirt, and the relationship between the deformation of skirt face and the strains inside the skirt were studied. Then, the dynamic contact pressure onto the skirt in operation and the amount of deformation were calculated based on the relationships mentioned above using the factor of dynamic strains measured on an engine in operation. The deformation of skirt calculated using said dynamic strains was verified by the direct measurement of the skirt deformation. It was demonstrated that the thrust side of a piston skirt was largely deformed due to enlarged contact pressure caused by the piston slap subsequent to firing top dead center.

As a process that enables the high-speed and continuous forming of lengthy materials with a constant cross-sectional configuration, roll forming offers much higher productivity than the stamping process. However, in case a change must be made to the shape of the cross section, the material must normally be stamped or joined with a part containing a separate shape. This affects productivity, increases the number of pieces, and degrades the material's appearance. This report describes the roll-forming technology that we developed, in which the cross section of the material can be changed gradually. This method adopts a system which uses a movable and rotatable roll-stand that enables high-speed, continuous roll-forming processes.

As automotive electronic systems advance, the wire harness is the mainstream for necessary wiring in resin-made motor-driven actuators with wire connection labor and purchased-parts accounting for the majority of costs. As a means to eliminating the harness, there is a method of forming the conductive material on the inside, but this method leads to cost increases when there is a comparatively large number of wires because the required die insertion time becomes longer and automatic insertion equipment becomes necessary. The following paper reports on an integrated high-speed process that combines stamping and injection molding into a single process.

Responsiveness is one of the main characteristics of a brake booster. The design of a tandem booster, with its two boosting chambers, has a negative influence on high responsiveness. This report, using the CFD method for the air flow analysis, shows the way we found the most suitable air passage within the space of the given design of the current production tandem booster.

In this paper, we discuss vehicle directional stability and introduce advanced stability control (ASTC) to stabilize the vehicle during severe cornering. Vehicle behavior in a transient steering condition during severe cornering was analyzed by computer simulation. It was found that applying an external yaw moment makes the vehicle more stable. The effect of controlling the brake force response is also evaluated by simulation to determine the brake actuator response criteria. The actual vehicle test was performed with a pylon slalom using a hydraulic brake actuator. It is verified that the ASTC stabilizes the vehicle for transient steering maneuvers.

As a part of our process engineering (planning) steps and in order to shorten the initial flow control after the implementation of a production system, we have been adopting countermeasures for defects that have been forecasted by the application of FMEA. However, due to this having to be done with limited information (which is dependent upon the skill level of the operator) and due to the fact that the effects of each particular countermeasure are not fully understood, we cannot be certain that the measures implemented during the planning stages are thorough enough. The current situation is that countermeasures for most issues are being handled during the initial flow control stages based on the trial-and-error method. Given this situation, normally, it would take us more than three months from the time of line-off (start of production) to achieve our target rate of capacity utilization.

AISIN SEIKI CO., Ltd. Started the production of electronically controlled hydraulic automatic transmissions for medium-duty trucks and buses in 1989. The number of vehicles on the Japanese market in which this system is adopted is increasing steadily. After re-examining market needs, AISIN SEIKI CO., Ltd. has newly developed an electronically controlled hydraulic automatic transmission A580 which focuses on improved input capacity, driving performance and fuel economy for medium-duty trucks and buses and lessens learnt from experience.

Automating the inspection of the piston combustion chamber volume is difficult and prevents establishing an unmanned machining process of the piston in the future. So, we developed an inspection technique which uses a Range Finder, non-contact visual sensor, and calculate the chamber volume by integrating 3D position data. We applied this real-time measurement technique which enables 100 % inspection to our production lines. Then, we developed the “Defect Free Production Line”, which calibrates itself by feeding back the measured volume data to the machining process. Our paper will explain this inspection technique and our “Defect Free Production Line”.

Brazing using arc-sprayed coatings was investigated for application to non-oxidation copper brazing. It was found that the more porous sprayed coatings have an excellent brazeability. This newly developed joining method is more suitable than conventional methods for brazing complicated parts. We have applied this method to fabricate a torque converter for practical use.

When a clutch pedal is operated, the clutch pedal vibration and interior noise are mostly affected by the dynamic characteristics of the clutch cover assembly. We achieved a high correlation between vehicle test data and results using this method when exciting not only clutch system but also the engine system. Finally, we developed an excitation method to evaluate the dynamic characteristics of the clutch cover assembly.