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Recently weight reduction is increasingly needed in automotive industry to improve fuel efficiency and to meet a CO2 emission requirement. In this paper, we prepared composite body panels for the lightweight vehicle based on a small passenger car. Fender, roof, door, side outer panel, and tailgate are made from hand layup using a glass/carbon hybrid reinforcement. Hood is made from low pressure sheet molding compound (SMC) to investigate feasibility of mass production. Both hand layup and low pressure SMC materials are newly developed and their physical properties are examined. CAE simulation was done for strength analysis and optimization of thickness for the body panels.

Conventional steering system has a mechanical connection between the driver and the front tires of the vehicle, but in steer-by-wire system, there is no such a connection. Instead, actuators, positioned in the vehicle's front corners receive input from the control module and turn the front wheels accordingly. In steer-by-wire system, steering wheel is an important part that not only transfers driver's steering input to the controller but also provides a road feedback feeling to the driver's hand. Thus the reactive torque actuator, providing road feedback, plays an important role in steer-by-wire system. In conventional steer-by-wire-system, a motor was used as a reactive torque actuator. But using motor has some disadvantages such as an oscillatory feeling, and improper and potentially dangerous acceleration of the steering wheel by the motor when driver's hands are released from steering wheel abruptly.

Hands-free stability, one of the handling characteristics of a vehicle, is a stability criterion evaluated in case of a driver's steering wheel release after a certain steering input during driving. During the development process, a hands-free-unstable vehicle needs many steering and suspension parts to be repeatedly tested to improve the performance. In this paper, CAE methods are proposed to investigate easily the influence of the steering and suspension design parameters on the hands-free stability. And the results of CAE methods were compared with the prototype vehicle test to verify the validity of the methods.

This paper aims to establish a systematic process of developing a brand driving sound. Firstly, principal factors of a brand sound identity are extracted from factor analysis of many sample cars. As a result, brand sound positioning map is drawn using jury test data. Also, the multiple regression analysis of subjective and objective test results is carried. As a result, the principal factors are expressed by objective test data and brand sound positioning map can be easily updated from the measurement data. In addition, what should be improved for designing a target sound is reviewed. Secondly, various technologies of target sound design are discussed to involve the brand identity and vehicle’s character in driving sound. Also, an efficient tool to implement the target sound with an active sound design (ASD) system in a vehicle is introduced. This tool enables to efficiently design, tune and simulate a target sound for ASD system in a laboratory.

Although subjective measurements are critical for qualifying seat comfort in terms of good or bad, objective measurements are the basis for quantifying these differences and ultimately controlling seat comfort performance through engineering design specs, targets, and/or guidelines. Many objective automotive seat comfort tools and techniques used today are based on methods derived in the past. This paper examines the engineering problems and solutions that make these historical influences relevant today. Particular focus is given to design considerations for the A-surface, B-surface, and the compressed surface of the seating system.