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Automotive manufacturers must satisfy a myriad of criteria when selecting a polymer for interior trim applications. Additional challenges have been presented with the future phase-in requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 201U. This federal mandate requires vehicles to provide protection when an occupant's head strikes upper interior components such as thermoplastic pillars during an automobile crash. One limitation of FMVSS 201U is that it only prescribes performance requirements for simulated impact tests conducted at ambient test conditions. Many automobile crashes, however, occur at a multitude of vehicle temperatures. Moreover, thermoplastics are known to undergo a ductile to brittle transition whereby test specimens exhibit brittle failure upon impact at cold temperature. Therefore, reasonable engineering concern must be exercised to design robust systems that provide occupant protection across a wide range of test temperatures.

A new family of high heat stable, few gloss ABS resins has been developed specifically to offer the automotive industry improved performance in molded interior trim parts. The new resins offer excellent fabrication and property performance similar to that of standard-heat low gloss ABS resins. Advantages over current high heat ABS resins include improved injection moldability, greater resistance to heat warping and to U.V. degradation, improved color stability, improved toughness, and consequent good finished part economics while maintaining equivalent heat resistance. Physical property and testing-evaluation data are provided.