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Automotive OEMs, insurance agencies and regulatory bodies are continuously looking at various accident statistics and proper ways of evaluating unaccounted (as per current regulations and safety ratings) accident scenarios to improve the safety standards of cars. Small overlap and oblique impacts during which a corner of a car hits a tree or the corner of another vehicle are two such situations. Most of the vehicles that are on road scored low when tested for these impact scenarios. This paper focuses on development of energy-absorbing members, using engineering thermoplastics materials, which can be mounted on the BIW of a vehicle, as countermeasures to small overlap impact. Various design and material configurations options, including metal plastic and composite plastic structural members mounted on the BIW are evaluated through CAE studies, against small overlap/oblique impact scenarios.

Understanding scratch and mar damage performance of materials is important in the automotive industry. Hence there is need to develop a suitable method to quantify them and relate back to product performance. This paper elucidates a method to quantitatively evaluate mar defects. The method involves marring the surface of a sample with a crockmeter and the damaged surface characterized using a two-camera optical imaging system. These results were then correlated with visual survey results and a transfer function was generated using Design expert DX6net. In the validation stage, a set of newly marred samples were investigated to generate both visual rank and mar index using the transfer functions. Excellent agreement between mar index and visual survey rank reconfirmed the method's effectiveness. Mar performance of different materials (black and high gloss) can be compared using this technique on a 0-100 scale. This method can also be used to characterize polycarbonate glazing surfaces.

An automobile is designed to meet numerous impact events, including frontal impact, side impact, rear impact, and roll over. Roof crush resistance is a test defined by Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 216. The intent of this test is to evaluate the strength of the roof and supporting body structure during a vehicle rollover. Steel countermeasures are typically used as structural-reinforcing elements to the body structure to improve the crush strength of a vehicle roof. This paper presents a thermoplastic countermeasure (CM) design as a light-weight solution to replace traditional steel countermeasures. Two concepts are discussed in the paper: an all-plastic countermeasure and a plastic/metal hybrid countermeasure consisting of stamped steel with a thermoplastic reinforcing rib structure. Finite Element (FE) methods using LS-DYNA are used to evaluate the performance of these countermeasure concepts.

High repair cost and the subsequent increase in insurance cost in a highly competitive automobile market have forced every automobile original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to comply with the FMVSS and ECE-42 regulatory requirements of low-speed vehicle damageability. Although, the terminologies used are different, similar regulatory requirements also exist in Asia-pacific region. At the rear side, reducing the damage to expensive vehicle components in a low-speed pendulum impact or a low-speed barrier impact can attain a good rating for low-speed vehicle damageability. This paper focuses on a detailed study of various lightweight plastic rear beam designs and their effectiveness in reducing the damage to the vehicle during low-speed vehicle-to-vehicle collision or vehicle to barrier collision.

Automotive steering wheel (SW) is generally manufactured with metal armature and polyurethane / polypropylene (PU / PP) overmolding. The metal armature is used to provide structural stiffness and strength while PU / PP foam gives shape, touch and feel. Developed market use cast Magnesium or Aluminum as armature material, however emerging markets use steel for armature construction. With additional requirements (airbag integration, functional integration, aesthetics, compact and light weigh) being added to steering wheel, the steering wheel design is becoming more and more complex in nature. Thermoplastic SW offers competitive stiffness, impact, ductility and chemical resistance characteristics needed for the global automotive markets. A thermoplastic SW had been developed from a unique recyclable polycarbonate.

Composite materials have found applications in the aviation industry because of an appropriate combination of properties - high stiffness, high heat performance and lower specific gravities. The Automotive industry has similar needs, and the application of composites in semi-structural application is a natural next phase. This is also necessitated because of global emphases on fuel efficiency and safety considerations in automotive applications. In this paper, thermoplastic composite material technology solutions and case studies for a number of applications, such as front-end-modules, door modules and instrument panel carriers are presented. Since processing and material modeling of composites is of critical importance in the design process, this paper also describes a new definition of isotropic properties of long glass composites, and perhaps the only way of honestly comparing such materials.

A stressed skin sandwich construction can be an efficient and effective method of designing automotive parts that have light weight, high stiffness, and cost effectiveness. Sandwich constructions are used throughout the transportation industry -- including aerospace, where the technique found its first widespread use, watercraft, trains, and automobiles. The efficient use of thin, strong skins bonded to an inner core of lightweight material of honeycomb, foam, or other material, maximizes the sectional moment of inertia of the strong skin materials, while maintaining an overall lightweight structure. Automotive applications that currently use this technology include load floors, seats, package shelves, and floor pans. This paper will discuss a method of manufacturing sandwich panel constructions from glass mat thermoplastics (GMTs) for the outer skins and different foam types for the inner core.

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.