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There have always been different approaches when it comes to ‘Bus body architecture’. The design approach has gone through different phases namely, chassis based, semi integral, integral and monocoque. Equally varied is the choice of material for bus super structure. The predominantly used ones are - mild steel with galvanization, stainless steel (SS) and aluminum. This paper discusses the rationale behind choosing stainless steel for the complete bus structure. With rapid development in infrastructure and public mass transit system, it has become imperative to have a robust structure for buses that is durable and crash worthy. Among the family of stainless steels, ferritic stainless steel exhibits excellent mechanical properties with corrosion resistance and better strength to weight ratio compared to the galvanized mild steel.

India has the highest number of road accidents in the world. With over 130,000 deaths annually, the country has overtaken China and now has the worst road traffic accident rate worldwide. This has been revealed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its Global Status Report on Road Safety pointing to speeding as the main contributing factor. This paper studies and details all the approaches for the reduction of accidents adopted by various countries and especially the necessity of speed governors in Indian vehicles and the role of the same in reduction in accidents with other benefits of speed governors with regard to fuel efficiency, noise & pollutant emissions both in Indian and International aspects. [Reference 7]

Overloading is not only a problem for larger goods vehicles, it is equally a problem for smaller vehicles, such as vans, cars and passenger carrying vehicles. Reports indicate that nearly 70% of all traffic on national highways comprise of cargo vehicles while 22% of cargo vehicles are involved in road accidents. Overloading increases the risk of traffic accidents and causes excessive wear and damage to roads, bridges, pavements etc. This paper specifies in detail the existing Indian Legislation on Overloading, different methods of monitoring, Vehicle Overload Control in other countries and India recommendations to curb Overloading of vehicles.

Buses have been main means of mass transport in organized as well as unorganized sectors in India. Though the art and science of Chassis Designing had been practiced and matured by all Indian OEMs, Body design had long not been accorded high priority by them. Till 1989, there was no comprehensive set of rules enforced. Bus designs were developed with scant regard for safety and emission. OEMs sold their products in the form of drive away chassis and the Body Design & Body Building was largely left to Body Builders, many of whom employed poor design, build and quality control practices. Spurious materials, parts, non-uniform construction resulted in number of accidents and many of them were fatal. Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR) kicked-in 1st July 1989. With roll out of CMVR, various safety related features like entry/exit door, emergency exits, window frames, their locations, dimensions and designs were defined.

Oil strainer is used in engine oil sump, which prevents dirt, scale and other particle from clogging downstream orifice. In this paper, dynamic analysis was carried out using FEA tool. As a part of dynamic analysis, constrained modal analysis and frequency response (steady state dynamics) analysis was done. Frequency response analysis was done for different engine exciting frequency at different service load (vibration amplitude). Modal superposition method is used for doing frequency response analysis and load is applied as base excitation. The natural frequency from modal analysis and stress response from frequency response analysis is well correlated with test results. Based on achieved good correlation with test, several design modification could be carried out in CAE before finalizing the final design.

The Chassis Dynamo-meter system provides a means of testing vehicle in place of driving them on the test track or highway. The machine simulates road conditions in speed, torque or road load control modes, allowing the vehicle to experience the same forces as it would be on the test track or highway. Chassis dynamo-meter with its 24 x 7 capabilities can perform several value-added tests to assess vehicle performance while operating under load in short period of time and with other intangible benefits such as well-timed product launch, reduced breakdown time and faster failure resolution, Dynamo-meter is worthy of an investment. However, the scale of investment and constraints in required infrastructure limits the number of dynamo-meters in a R&D center of Original Equipment Manufacturers.

The commercial vehicle industry is evolving faster with the rise in multifarious aspects deciding a company's progress. In the current scenario, vehicle performance and its reliability in the areas of payload, fuel economy, etc. play vital roles in determining its sustenance in the industry, in addition to reducing driver fatigue and improving comfort levels. Test quality and time is the key to assure and affirm, smooth and quick launch of the product into the market. This paper details on the design of Multi-Axis road data simulator which entails realistic loads onto the components for capturing meaningful information on behavior of the product and recreate the field failure modes. The design was conceptualized keeping in mind both cost (for initial installation and running cost) and time for testing without loss in the convergence factor.

In the modern automotive sector, durability and reliability are the most common terms. Customers are expecting a highly reliable product but at low cost. Any product that fails within its useful life leads to customer dissatisfaction and affects the reputation of the OEM. To eradicate this, all automotive components undergo stringent validation protocol, either in proving ground or in lab. This paper tails on developing an accelerated lab test methodology for NRS leaf spring bracket by simulating field failure. Initially, potential failure causes for spring bracket were analyzed. Road load data was then acquired at proving ground and customer site to evaluate the damage on the spring bracket. To simulate the field failure, lab test facility was developed, reproducing similar boundary conditions as in vehicle.

Bus and coach drivers spend considerably more time in the vehicle, compared to an average personal car user. However, when it comes to comfort levels, the personal cars, even the inexpensive hatchbacks score much higher than a standard bus. This is because the amount of ergonomic design considerations that go into designing a car's DWS (driver workspace) is much more than that of buses. To understand this lacuna, the existing standards and recommendations pertaining directly or remotely to bus driver workspace were studied. It was understood, beyond certain elementary recommendations, there were very few standards available exclusively for buses. This paper ventures to establish a set of guidelines, exclusively for designing bus and coach driver workspace. The various systems in the driver's work space and their relevance to driver's ergonomics are discussed. References are drawn from different case studies and standards to come up with recommendations and guidelines.