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In recent years thanks to the continuous improvements in production techniques the use of high polymers - plastomers, duromers, elastomers - has found ever-increasing justification in automobile design in Europe. The improved comfort of vehicle interiors, the reduction in weight of the automobiles and the associated energy savings, which the use of such materials guarantees, will continue to remain powerful sales arguments favouring the use of plastics despite the recent price increases. The revised situation in the energy and raw material sectors, coupled with the growing desire for comfort and simpler operation, as well as new safety and statutory regulations, have forced the motor industry to consider the use of a wider range of materials. Most of the plastics used at the moment can be found inside the vehicle. Future percentage growth rates in the high polymer field will, however, be concentrated on those plastics which will find use in the coachwork and external car components.

This report demonstrates the scope of the preliminary work required before plastics can be used in the vehicle industry. Consideration must be given to diverse factors such as the special physical properties of the material being used, the influence of the manufacturing process on the properties of the plastic components, as well as the basic design of the item being produced. Illustrated in detail is the plastic air duct used for the Volkswagen Type 411 sedan, with particular emphasis on ambient influences and combustibility. Plastics have become an accepted part of the vehicle construction scene and any increase in the use of plastics will depend upon data being made available to the engineer in usable form.

The use of plastics by the automotive industry is gaining momentum, but their ultimate application as material for an all-plastic car, including the body and associated operating functions, hovers in the background. This paper examines carefully, and supports by test data and known materials properties, the practicability of this development. It points out the range of problems that must be solved before functional implementation, producibility, and economic manufacture on a mass-volume basis can be achieved. The conclusion reached is that compromises must be made and that these objectives are attainable in the present only by a happy marriage of metal and plastics, with each type of material contributing its superior qualities.

A new plastic fuel tank has been developed, which shows considerable advantages over the common sheet metal tank: Besides meeting the usual requirements for fuel tanks it has lower weight at bigger volume and is absolutely corrosion resistent. - Considerations for the design, manufacture, and testing are followed by some economical figures.

The euphoric predictions that had been made as regards the increasing use of plastics in this field will not, after all, be fulfilled. There is unlikely to be any appreciable progress in the use of the two favourite materials - unsaturated polyesters and polyurethanes - if basic requirements are not newly worked out. The often repeated mention of the raw material and energy situation leeds us nowhere. Development can only be speeded up if one pays due attention to the basic rules underlying the choice of materials, namely technical progress, cost reduction, component optimisation and improved manufacturing techniques. Urgent suppositions, which have to be solved, lie in the manufacturing field. Here the preparation for the series have to be made by locally employed teams. Hereby the adaption to costs has to be integrated in todays manufacturing. With regard to the manufacture of large body parts for Europe the following applies: The pressing shop cannot be allowed to die.

When the sudden shortage of a material and the resulting price escalation put regular vehicle production in doubt, users think twice about its current and future application. The oil crisis caused the European automotive industry to double-think its use of once cheap and plentiful plastic. Full exploitation of this material became an economic necessity, and careful, long-range planning made the situation liveable. Plastic with a high use-value factor increased in use, and certain ‘expensive’ plastics have become more appealing. But only those projects that are within the foreseeable future will stay on the front burner.