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As we all know, automotive headliners are an essential component of any car’s interior as they cover all the internal components and provide a clean and finished look. Headliners not only increase the aesthetic appeal of a car’s interior, but also acts as an insulation and sound absorption source. As per the latest Government norms, Curtain Airbag (henceforth called as CAB) has been made mandatory and this change calls for the corresponding changes in the Headliner packaging of all passenger vehicles. In general, curtain air-bag deployment calls for a twist open of Headliner at lateral sides (a portion below Hinge-line) during the deployment. This enables the inflated airbag to flow inside the passenger cabin to protect the passenger from any injury. Conventionally no components are packaged below the hinge-line area of headliner to avoid obstruction for CAB deployment and any part fly-off concerns.

Restraint systems in automotives are inevitable for the safety of passengers. Seat belts are one such restraint system in automotives that prevent drivers and passengers from being injured during a crash by restraining them back. Seatbelt on automotives has interface with Body-in-white (henceforth called as BIW) and Trim parts in-order to serve its purpose at vehicle level. One such interface part of seat belt is the web guide, which assists and ensures the nylon web’s smooth motion at different seat track positions. Web-guides on automotives ensure the flawless motion of seat belt web at pillar trim areas. In this paper, we are discussing alternate ways of assisting the seat belt web without the web-guide as a separate part. In-order to assist and ensure the motion of nylon web in its trajectory, we have extended the flange of the pillar trim involved.

In order to sustain in automobile industry, fuel economy and robustness are playing vital role in vehicle. Every gram of weight will have an impact on fuel economy, thus burning a hole in consumers pocket and contributing heavily to the carbon footprint. Composite material development plays important role in meeting the stringent self-imposed targets of the automotive manufacturers and light weighting is becoming a prime option for improving Fuel Economy. The main objective of this paper is to optimize the weight of the luggage lid floor and reduce its cost without compromising on the strength by changing the raw material and manufacturing process. This part is in trunk compartment of the vehicle. Main function of this part is to withstand the luggage load under various user loading patterns at varied temperature and while driving on different road conditions.

This paper describes modified polypropylene copolymer (PPCP) material for canopy plastic structure in a modular commercial passenger vehicle. This compounded PPCP material has optimized flow behavior, tensile strength, modulus, impact strength, and thermal properties to meet the functional requirements. Material described in this paper is a PPCP compound reinforced with glass fiber and mica filler. The application described in this paper is a canopy plastic structure, which is a structural exterior plastic part. Canopy plastic structure acts as a structural frame to hold vinyl canopy in both sides and tail gate of vehicle. In this paper, PPCP has been explored for canopy plastic structure part against conventional polyamides. Structural durability of the design was validated by virtual engineering. Part design and material combinations with better tooling design iterations were analyzed by using mold flow analysis.