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Lateral Stability is an important attribute which must be accounted for in the pick-up truck segment vehicles. If designed in an improper way, undesirable effects such as oversteer or tail sway may occur. Excessive yaw rate magnitudes, or tail sway, can reduce the confidence of the driver during severe lane change events. The concept architecture of the vehicle plays an important role in how stable the vehicle will be. High yaw rate or tail sway during limit cornering was reported during prototype vehicle evaluations. The tested vehicle configuration incorporated a double wish bone front suspension with an antiroll bar and a rear solid axle suspension with leaf springs and an antiroll bar. The feedback was critically analysed using computer simulations of the condition found in on track testing. Since the vehicle was still with the validation team, quick solution was necessary. This paper discusses the process which resulted in improved vehicle performance.

Fierce competition in India’s automotive industry has led to constant production innovation among manufactures. This has resulted in the reduction of the life cycle of the design philosophies and design tools. One of the performance factors that have continues to challenge automotive designer is to design and fine tune the braking performance with low cost and short life cycle. Braking performance of automotive vehicle is facilitated by the adhesion between the tyre and the ground. Braking force generated at the wheels of a vehicle have to appropriately match to the adhesion. Antilock braking system (ABS) is used for this purpose. ABS is a modern braking system which could significantly improve directional stability and reduce stopping distance of a vehicle. However this system still too complicated and expensive to use in low end compact car and pickup truck.

Automotive industry has led to constant production innovation among manufactures. This has resulted in the reduction of the life cycle of the design philosophies and design tools. One of the performance factors that have continues to challenge automotive designer is to design and fine tune the braking performance with low cost and short life cycle. Improvement in braking performance and vehicle stability can be achieved through the use of braking systems whosebrake force distribution is variable. Braking force distribution has an important and serious role in thevehicle stopping distance and stability. In this paper a new approach will be presented to achieve the braking forcedistribution strategy for articulated vehicles. For this purpose, the virtual optimization process has beenimplemented.

Structural elastomer components like bushes, engine mounts are required to meet stringent and contrasting requirements of being soft for better NVH and also be durable at different loading conditions and different road conditions. Silent block bushes are such components where the loading in radial direction of bushes are high to ensure the durability of bushes at high loads, but has to be soft on torsion to ensure good NVH. These requirements present with unique challenge to optimize the leaf spring bush design, stiffness and material characteristics of the rubber. Traditionally, bushes with varying degree of stiffness are selected, manufactured and tested on vehicle and the best one is chosen depending on the requirements. However, this approach is costly, time consuming and iterative. In this study, the stiffness targets required for the bush were analysed using static and dynamic load cases using virtual simulation (MSC.ADAMS).

In driving, Steering is the input motion to the vehicle. The driver uses steering input to change the direction of the vehicle. During Parking or U turn bends the Steering is locked and later released to follow the desired path. Steering return ability is defined as the ratio of difference between steering wheel position at lock condition and steering wheel angle after 3 seconds of release to the steering wheel angle at lock condition. Having proper steering return ability characteristics has an important effect on vehicle steering characteristics. In this study, a full vehicle ADAMS model is prepared, and virtual steering return ability have been simulated in ADAMS/CAR for a Pickup truck vehicle. Simulated responses in the steering wheel angle have been validated by comparison with measurements. A Design of Experiment study is setup and Iterations are carried out to find the effect of Hard points and friction parameters.