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A new class 8 heavy truck interior system has been developed. Included are an injection molded structural foam dash, a compact heater-air conditioner unit, a new cab electrical system, and a new trim package. The system has been implemented into both cab-over-engine and conventional model vehicles.

Freightliner has introduced two trucks which are based on the premise that customer satisfaction is a top priority. The new generation Freightliner Conventional and the New Generation Cab-Over-Engine (COE) are the result of an examination of issues facing both customers and the trucking industry. Both models feature improved aerodynamics and fuel efficiency, as well as a wide range of enhancements for safety and comfort. After extensive testing of the new generation conventional and the new generation COE, Freightliner is confident that these trucks will set new industry standards under actual road conditions.

Since the introduction of the Freightliner/Wabco individual wheel control ABS in 1987, both Freightliner and Wabco have continued their efforts to develop a simplified and highly cost effective ABS for use on Freightliner vehicles. This ongoing development effort has lead to the 4-channel Freightliner/Wabco Tandem Control ABS. This new Freightliner/Wabco Tandem Control ABS was introduced in 1989 as an alternative to the original Freightliner/Wabco 6-channel individual wheel control ABS for use on typical 3 axle, on highway, tractors and trucks. This paper describes the advantages and the differences between the Freightliner/Wabco 6-channel individual wheel control and the Freightliner/Wabco 4-channel Tandem Control ABS when installed on 3 axle Freightliner vehicles.

A three dimensional Computer Aided Design (3D CAD) system is used to define the volume of space that the front tire of a heavy truck occupies as it is swept through the full range of steering motion and, to a lesser degree, front suspension articulation. Tire envelopes of this type are used for clearance evaluation in heavy truck design. This paper describes in detail the procedure used within an interactive CAD program to create a tire envelope.

This paper describes application examples of RAMSIS, a 3-D CAD human model for ergonomic truck evaluations, to truck design. RAMSIS realistically simulates truck driver postures and locations, an important prerequisite to having confidence in subsequent ergonomic analyses. We show examples of how visibility evaluations compare to traditional SAE methods, arm reach and force evaluation; and an example for entry/exit evaluations.

The dynamic behavior of commercial vehicles has been studied over the last 25 years, mainly in Europe and America. Earlier tests took place as far back as the thirties with the handicap, that tire properties were vastly unknown at that point in time. Today adequate computer systems have yielded the capability for studies of complex vehicle systems. Although being by no means complete, the knowledge of dynamic behavior of automobiles is considered state of the art, while that for commercial vehicles is still largely empirical. Some of the unique problems of commercial vehicles are: huge payloads and a wide range of variable masses which create high side to side and or fore aft load transfers, due to a high center of gravity, mutual influence of the various units of a truck combination by means of couplings, e.g. different accelerations or decelerations of tractor and trailer.