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Back to the non Flex Fuel vehicles, the knock control system was designed and calibrated to absorb differences between engines (mainly compression ratio) and to protect the engine against knock damage (a correction up to 4 degrees BTDC was usually enough). But now, two new variables get in the scene: Flexible Fuel strategy, working from E22 to E100 (all blends in between) and small displacement (1.0 liter) high compression ratio engines. In this new scenario the system must be capable of correcting all spark advance differences, once knock control system acts as a safety feature, protecting the engine even if the fuel learning shows some deviation. In addition to that, we have the compression ratio variation between minimum and maximum limits. Since the engine is small (as well its combustion chamber), each tenth of a millimeter difference during manufacturing process, results in an important final compression ratio variation.

The drive to reduce weight, simplify assembly, and cut total system cost in today's vehicles is relentless. Replacing metal systems with thermoplastics has been of considerable interest in the engineering community. The current generations of engineering thermoplastic resins are enabling the use of plastic systems in demanding underhood applications. Technical data and discussion regarding the materials, design, molding, and assembly of lightweight composite throttle bodies will be presented in this paper. Comparisons with machined aluminum throttle housings are drawn to establish a baseline with the throttle body housing component that is most common in production today. Design flexibility and process simplification are some of the approaches highlighted. Much of the technical information provided in the paper applies to both cable driven mechanical throttle bodies as well as electronic throttle bodies under development.

In the engine management systems field, there is lack of sensors locally built and available for sale in Brazil. Therefore, many auto parts companies have to import them affecting directly the final products costs (technology know-how/development costs, import taxes and other material handling/custom related costs). This paper was motivated to study an alternative for a simple, cheaper and locally made throttle position sensor. The choose of this part was because the fact that it is one of the most expensive in the throttle body bill of. For developing this new alternative, it was used a tool called value analysis and value engineering. The outcome of this study was a throttle position sensor function integrated to the throttle body manufacturing line with the advantages that 100% components can be locally purchased, improved robustness against humidity and component quantity reduction by 40%. Therefore achieving more value added.

An accelerated seat durability test was developed to identify potential problems in areas with traditionally high warranty cost and customer dissatisfaction: squeak & rattle and mechanism looseness & efforts. The test inputs include temperature, humidity, road vibration, occupant movements, and mechanism cycling. These inputs were combined into a single 14-day test profile that simulates 10 years and 250,000 km. (approximately 150,000 miles) of 95th percentile customer usage. Various components of the seat assembly are tested together as a system. The test was performed on two current production programs. The test produced issues similar to those found in warranty repair data and evaluations of used seats from high-mileage customer-owned vehicles.

In a joint effort between Ford Motor Company, Visteon Automotive Systems, Textron Automotive Company, and Dow Automotive the 1999 Mercury Cougar instrument panel (IP) was designed and engineered to reduce the weight and overall cost of the IP system. The original IP architecture changed from a traditional design that relied heavily upon the steel structure to absorb and dissipate unbelted occupant energy during frontal collisions to a hybrid design that utilizes both plastic and steel to manage energy. This design approach further reduced IP system weight by 1.88 Kg and yielded significant system cost savings. The hybrid instrument panel architecture in the Cougar utilizes a steel cross car beam coupled to steel energy absorbing brackets and a ductile thermoplastic substrate. The glove box assembly and the driver knee bolster are double shell injection molded structures that incorporate molded-in ribs for added stiffness.