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Basic automotive steering wheel armature design has been largely unchanged for years. A cast aluminum or magnesium armature is typically used to provide stiffness and strength with an overmolded polyurethane giving shape and occupant protection. A prototype steering wheel armature made from a unique recyclable thermoplastic eliminates the casting while meeting the same stiffness, impact, and performance criteria needed for the automotive market. It also opens new avenues for styling differentiation and flexibility. Prototype parts, manufacturing, and testing results will be covered.

Currently, automobile manufacturers receive automotive headlamp assemblies from headlamp manufacturers with outer lenses produced of clear or slightly blue tinted polycarbonate. Such headlamp designed to provide optimized light output have very similar aesthetics, and leave little room to differentiate one car platform from another, using the outer lens color. With edge glow technology a car manufacturer can provide an appealing aesthetic look (edge glow effect) from the outer lens. Additionally, this technology can be used to improve the quality of the beam color emitted through the outer lens. Dependent on the chosen combination of halogen source and lens formulation, a range of beam colors spanning from halogen to HID is attainable, where the beam pattern and color continue to conform to the applicable SAE and ECE beam photometry and color standards and regulations.

OEM and Tier One integrated suppliers are in constant search of cockpit system components that reduce the overall number of breaks across smooth surfaces. Traditionally, soft instrument panels with seamless airbag systems have required a separate airbag door and a tether or steel hinge mechanism to secure the door during a deployment. In addition, a scoring operation is necessary to ensure predictable, repeatable deployment characteristics. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the development and performance of a cost-effective soft instrument panel with a seamless airbag door that results in a reduced number of parts and a highly efficient manufacturing process. Because of the unique characteristics of this material, a cost-effective, lightweight solution to meet both styling requirements, as well as safety and performance criteria, can be attained.

This paper will discuss, compare, and contrast current materials, designs, and manufacturing options for fuel filler doors. Also, it will explore the advantages of using conductive thermoplastic substrates over other materials that are commonly used in the fuel filler door market today. At the outset, the paper will discuss the differences between traditional steel fuel filler doors, which use an on-line painting process, and fuel filler doors that use a conductive thermoplastic substrate and require an in-line or off-line painting process. After reviewing the process, this paper will discuss material options and current technology. Here, we will highlight key drivers to thermoplastics acceptance, and look at the cost saving opportunities presented by the inline paint process option using a conductive thermoplastic resin, as well as benefits gained in quality control, component storage and coordination.

An efficient energy absorber (EA) will absorb impact energy through a combination of elastic and plastic deformation. However, the EA is typically coupled with a steel reinforcing beam, which can also elastically and plastically deform during an impact event. In order to design and optimize an EA/Beam system that will meet the specified vehicle impact requirements, the response of the entire assembly must be accurately predicted. This paper will describe a finite element procedure and material model that can be used to predict the impact response of a bumper system composed of an injection molded thermoplastic energy absorber attached to a steel beam. The first step in the process was to identify the critical material, geometric, and boundary condition parameters involved in the EA and Beam individually. Next, the two models were combined to create the system model. Actual test results for 8km/hr.

Traditionally, the automotive electrical industry has used thermoplastic polyesters, nylon, and nylon alloys for its primary plastic applications. Current materials-specification trends in this segment are being dictated by 10-year warranty requirements (USCAR's EWCAP tests), higher functionality, increased pin densification, and elevated operating temperatures. This paper will discuss the implications of these trends and discuss materials approaches needed to address both application and manufacturing challenges.

The consumption of blow molded bumpers for passenger vehicles is increasing, particularly for small to mid-size vehicles. The performance required for bumpers in this class of vehicles varies by geographic region, as “global” vehicles are increasingly specified outside of the United States. For this reason, it is important to understand the impact performance provided by materials that could be blow molded into bumpers for this class of vehicles. This paper will compare the relative performance of polycarbonate/polybutylene terephthalate (PC/PBT) alloys vs. polyolefins for impact protection, weight, and processing performance.

This paper will address several critical aspects of bumper system performance, including vehicle damage protection and crash-severity sensing considerations, energy-absorption capacity and efficiency, and low-speed impact consistency and sensitivity to temperature changes. The objective is to help engineers and designers establish a realistic perspective of the capability of the various technologies based on actual test performance. The scope of the evaluation will include a comparison of several bumper-beam material constructions when subjected to a 16-km/hr swinging barrier impact over a range of temperatures the bumper could see in service (-30 to 60C).

The first single-piece, injection-molded, thermoplastic, front bumper for a light truck provides improved performance and reduced cost for the 1997 MY Explorer® Ltd. and 1988 MY Mountaineer® truck from Ford Motor Company. Additionally, the system provides improved impact performance, including the ability to pass 5.6 km/hr barrier impact tests without damage. Further, the advanced, 1-piece design integrates fascia attachments, reducing assembly time, and weighs 8.76 kg/bumper less than a baseline steel design. The complete system provides a cost savings vs. extruded aluminum and is competitive with steel bumpers.

Over the last decade, on small- and medium-size passenger cars, a new class of front bumper - injection or blow molded from engineering thermoplastics - has been put into production use. These bumper systems provide full 8-km/hr federal pendulum and flat-barrier impact protection, as well as angled barrier protection. Thermoplastic bumpers, offering weight, cost, and manufacturing advantages over conventional steel bumper systems, also provide high surface finish and styling enhancements. However, there remain questions about the durability and engineering applicability of thermoplastic bumper systems to heavier vehicles. This paper presents results of a preliminary study that examines the durability of thermoplastic bumpers drawn from production lots for much lighter compact, and mid-size passenger cars against baseline steel bumper systems currently used on full-size pickup truck and sport-utility vehicles (SUVs). Bumpers were subjected to U.S.

Recent vehicle design trends require bumper systems to be crashworthy under more demanding circumstances, e.g. tighter package space, heavier vehicle mass, and wider rail spans. Meanwhile, pressure to reduce cost and weight of bumpers continues at a time when roles in the supplier community are changing. These factors have combined to increase the importance of optimizing bumper design and material properties for specific platforms. Materials suppliers have responded by developing a range of specialized engineering thermoplastic (ETP) resins that can help meet increasing performance requirements yet also offer the potential for improved manufacturing productivity, significant weight savings, and systems cost reductions. Material suppliers have also increased the level of technical design support provided to OEMs and 1st Tier suppliers.

A new front bumper, blow molded from an engineering thermoplastic, is being used to provide full 8 km/h federal pendulum and flat-barrier impact protection, as well as angled barrier protection on a small passenger car. The low intrusion bumper is compatible with the vehicle's single-sensor airbag system and offers a 5.8 kg mass savings compared with competitive steel/foam systems. This paper will describe the design and development of the bumper system and the results achieved during testing.

Designers and engineers encounter many challenges in developing vehicles for the small-car market. They face constant pressure to reduce both mass and cost while still producing vehicles that meet environmental and safety requirements. At the same time, today's discriminating consumers demand the highest quality in their vehicles. To accommodate these challenges, OEMs and suppliers are working together to improve all components and systems for the high-volume small-car market. An example of this cooperative effort is a project involving an integrated structural instrument panel (IP) designed to meet the specific needs of the small-car platform. Preliminary validation of the IP project, which uses a compression-molded, glass-mat-thermoplastic (GMT) composite and incorporates steel and magnesium, indicates it will significantly reduce part count, mass, assembly time, and overall cost.

Traditional knee bolster designs consist of a first-surface plastic component covered by paint or vinyl skin and foam, with a subsurface steel plate that transfers knee loads to 2 steel crush brackets. The design was developed to meet FMVSS 208 and OEM requirements. More recently, technological developments have allowed for the steel plate to be replaced by a ribbed plastic structure, which offers cost and weight savings to the instrument panel system. However, it is still a hybrid system that combines plastic with the 2 steel crush brackets. This paper will detail the development of an all-plastic design, which consolidates the plastic ribbed reinforcement plate with the 2 steel crush cans in a single engineering thermoplastic component. The new system is expected to offer further cost and weight savings.

The August 1996 expansion of FMVSS 201 established head impact performance criteria for upper interior components This standard has forced automotive manufacturers, designers, and suppliers to change their thinking for interiors, especially pillars, compliance with FMVSS 201 will require new, structural designs and energy-absorbing materials An ongoing study has examined the implications of FMVSS 201 and its effect on pillars The results of this study have demonstrated how energy-absorbing engineering thermoplastics can be used to meet and exceed the requirements of the head impact legislation through single-piece pillar trims

Three commonly used energy management systems (expanded polypropylene foam, collapsing honeycomb and hydraulic shock absorbers) were fully characterized in 2.2 m/s pendulum bumper impact testing. This work was done to better understand the dynamic energy transfer and absorption of the system components and any synergies which exist between them. The test results showed that the energy absorbing systems which exhibited the best load and deflection performance when considered as individual components do not always work the most synergistically with the reinforcement beam. Simply examining the energy absorber's performance alone did not truly reflect the ability of the beam/absorber system's ability to manage energy.

Thermoplastic body panels are emerging in the industry as automotive manufacturers seek to design for advanced aerodynamic styling, lower weight, and cost effective vehicles. To best exhibit the advantages of GE thermoplastic resins in these applications, an extensive study has been completed to demonstrate the impact performance of thermoplastic body panels in the field based on the current success with the Buick LeSabre T-Type, Buick Reatta, and the Cadillac Deville and Fleetwood models using NORYL GTX® 910 resin fenders. This study provides a “real life” scenario of the advantages of thermoplastics compared to steel in body panel applications.