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Acoustics, in a broad sense, is an essential product attribute in the automotive industry, therefore, it is relevant to study and compare theoretical and numerical predictions to experimental acoustic measurements, key elements of many acoustic development processes. The numerical methods used in the industry for acoustic predictions are widely used for exhaust system optimization. However, the numerical and theoretical predictions very often differ from experimental results, due to modeling simplifications, temperature variations (which have high influence on speed of sound), manufacturing variations in prototype parts among others. This article aims to demonstrate the relevant steps for acoustics development applied in automotive exhaust systems and present a comparative study between experimental tests and computer simulations results for each process. The exhaust system chosen for this development was intended for a popular car 4-cylinder 1.0-liter engine.

In the middle of the global competition, inside the automotive sector, the perceived quality of costumers, related to the beauty and harmony of the outer skin surfaces of motor vehicles, has become one of the main determinant factors in the purchase process decision. In general, the initial perceived quality of a car is determined by an appealing design of its body, the color and gloss of its paint, and also the manufacturing and assembly accuracy of the skin panels. The appealing design makes the skin panel even more complex and hard to produce with current metal forming technologies and the results are often small distortions on the outer surfaces about tens of microns and most of the times paint does not cover such imperfections. Despite the technological advances along the years, surface quality inspection was still being performed by manual and subjective evaluation by experts.

This work conducted an optimization in sheet metal blank's sizes for cold pressing automotive parts, comparing dimensional characteristics of automotive hood outer panels deep drawn with commonly used blank sizes for this process. As a result, it was possible to suggest modifications to smaller blank sizes, accordingly to the improvement accomplished in this work. The experimental study was conducted from observations in part's superficial aspects after its deep drawing process, which was realized in a commonly used tooling for automotive industry, with a blank's width reduction for the suggested case. The results showed a cost reduction opportunity based in this optimization.

The high level of reliability of virtual analysis for suspension system development should not be thinking only for comfort and performance purpose, considering the `growing number of failures due to the touch between components in dynamic condition. The study establishes a simple and optimized methodology, able to predict more accurately the flexible brake hose path subject to the steering motion and associates with the independent suspension course, aiming the best route in order to achieve a low cost and robust design. In turn, the flexible brake hose non-linear model invalidates the multibody study to get the best route. However, with the aid of motion making use of NX9 [1] CAD [2] software was prepared dynamic movement that subjects front independent suspension system that establishes a Cartesian routine that maps 977 points, much higher than 9 points from previous studies, comprising a more accurate path performed by the hose.

In a growing global environment, new products development demands balancing regional requirements and resources in the proposed solutions targeting optimal results. The interaction between Development Centers must pursue, following clearly defined rules, proposals that consider factors from all involved regions. This paper proposes description of important aspects to be considered in Car Suspension Global Product Developments.

The purpose of this study is to establish the criteria of election of an electrical architecture tailor-made for the emerging markets, to be applied during the whole vehicle's lifecycle. A literature review about related subjects as the meaning of "electrical architecture," its techniques, criteria and methodologies of development, and the definitions of emerging and developed markets is also presented. Based on the bibliographical research, documentary analysis and unstructured interviews with active members of the automotive industry, the criteria for election of electrical architectures for emerging markets was established, as well as their describers and swing-weights, required by the use of the additive aggregation method - a multi-criteria decision taking method. The criteria were applied in two case studies of automotive industry: the developments of a low-cost hatch vehicle and a mid-size luxury sedan vehicle, both designed for emerging markets.

The growing need to avoid failures in vehicle components have become the methods of quality control of manufacturing processes more efficient and accurate, especially in safety components like automotive wheels. The aim of this work is examines the efficiency of aluminum-silicon specifications related to wheel quality for avoiding the poor results obtained in impact and fatigue tests as result of improper settings in the chemical composition and manufacture process. It is evaluated mainly the content of magnesium in aluminum alloys and certified the correct degree of silicon modification in the microstructure on the performance of these wheels. The test results indicate that even with the chemical composition parameters specified by the standard, the technical validation of the product may not be adequate.

Product Design is a process of creating new product by an organization or business entity for its customer. Being part of a stage in a product life cycle, it is very important that the highest level of effort is being put in the stage. The Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) methodology consists of a collection of tools, needs-gathering, engineering, statistical methods, and best practices that find use in product development. DFSS has the objective of determining the needs of customers and the business, and driving those needs into the product solution so created. In this paper the DFSS methodology is employed to develop the optimal solution to enhance sound transmission loss in a vehicle front of dash pass-through. An integrated approach using acoustic holography and beamforming Noise Source Identification (NSI) techniques is presented as a manner to improve sound insulation during vehicle development.

In the automotive industries, time and parts production costs are fundamental, mainly in prototyping production. The RTV (Room Temperature Vulcanized) process is an important alternative production to flexible silicone molds when you need to inject polyurethane parts. The objective is time reduction in tooling production and parts. RTV requires notable initial investments in equipments. Many times, this cost does not fit in the automotive third part company's budget. This work shows how is possible to obtain parts by RTV process with excellent quality, without high investments in equipments and without quality loss in produced parts. Lead times and tooling and parts costs are analyzed. Due to equipments low costs, this alternative is accessible not only to automotive industries but also to small and medium suppliers.

Reliability, maintainability/serviceability and security are three qualities of product excellence desired by customers and users of products, however customer expectation for product reliability are continually increasing for almost all product and despite of most of the companies has worked on the philosophy of continuous improvement to meet or exceed the customer's expectations, its difficult to avoid failures or its difficult to ensure zero defect. Once it happens, it generate a customer complaint which is registered by companies. The way that companies used to register the complaints is through their warranty system and also a special database. Most of the companies maintain warranty databases for purposes of financial reporting and warranty expense forecasting. In some cases, there are attempts to extract engineering information from such databases. Another application is to use warranty data to detect potentially serious field reliability problems as early as possible.

The current study shows important results obtained by a new technique of residual stress virtual evaluation in automotive components for improving the development and quality of new products, aiming the structural performance, mass and cost reductions. The approaching those virtual results were adjusted by metallurgic data obtained in metallography, mechanical and chemical analysis. As part of this proposal, an automotive aluminum wheel belong to current production was evaluated in accordance with data acquired in the wheel manufacturing process. It was taking in account the real information of casting process parameters and the metallurgic information obtained in laboratorial tests. In this work, the results show that product residual stresses shall be considerate and evaluated during design phases as improving proposal, new technical concerns and quality improving.

Nowadays the automotive market is reducing product development time and launching more technological vehicles, always focusing on having even more safety with better customer experience which generates big competitiveness and requires more accurate and faster development, the virtual simulations make it possible to meet this new reality with a high confidence level. This work comprises the validation of a methodology to analyze the design confidence level for flexibles associated with suspension kinematics. To validate the methodology, the scanned physical model was compared with the virtual simulations using the Simcenter 3D Flexible Pipe software. As inputs data for simulation, it is used geometrical, physical, and chemical information. Through the suspension kinematics study was establish possible movement situations to obtain the flexibles deformations attending to all suspension positions.

The present work gives an overview of the current situation of failures that may occur in automotive components, showing their distribution in the vehicle and the causes that make them occur, trying to emphasize the different materials which are used in the manufacturing of these components. This work is a technical approach strictly supported by an engineering concept which aims to discuss the different factors which contribute to cause premature failures of automotive components, prior to their utilization in the field or when they are exposed to the most variable conditions of use. One of the most important objectives of this study is to call the attention of design engineers, research engineers and manufacturing people to the importance of the components integrity which shall be taken into primary consideration in the design phase as well as in the specification of the material and process of manufacturing.

The purpose of the theme developed in this work is to increase the volume of information related to vehicle evaluation and how human perception can be translated into numbers, thus facilitating the process of definitions, refinement and analysis of its performance. Based on the discipline of psychophysics, where it is possible to study the relationship between stimulus and sensation and the use of post processing tool known as PSD (Power Spectral Density), post process the acceleration data of inputs perceived by the occupants of the vehicle, when driving in routes considered ergodic. By this, in a summarized way, get to human subjective perception of comfort. This material shows in a conceptual way a sequence of studies that were conducted to make it possible, to generate a performance classification of the subjective vehicle attribute of Smoothness, by processing values of acceleration measured the driver's seat.

This work presents aspects related to research and development of high-speed steels for valve seat inserts application. Five series of materials were evaluated: high speed steel M3/2 infiltrated with copper during sintering; high speed steel M3/2 with Cu3P addition; high speed steel M3/2 with Cu3P addition and further copper infiltrated during sintering; high speed steel M3/2 mixed with iron powder; high speed steel M3/2 mixed with iron powder and niobium carbide. The physical and mechanical properties of the evaluated high-speed steels are presented in terms of densification, hardness, and radial mechanical strength. These properties are compared according to the materials processing and heat treatment.

This article is the sintezis of vehicle development process, starting from its characteristics and included in a competitive market, and shows the dimensional optimization process application and validation using the GD&T by ASME 14.5 M. INDEX KEY WORDS INTRODUTION TECHNICAL GROUNDING STUDY EXAMPLE CHOICE PROCESS STUDY EXAMPLE APPLYING AND VALIDATING GD&T BY ASME 14.5M STANDARD STUDY EXAMPLE RESULTS FINAL CONSIDERATION APPENDIX BIBLIOGRAPHY

Since the globalization, the automotive competition is growing every day, and automotive products (vehicles and components) are often developed in one country though it's made, used and applied in other markets. The operating conditions such as height, climate, topography, customer perception and other variables are often different from one market to another and could influence on the products reliability. If the market operating conditions are not considered in the vehicle development phase, the product may not fully perform its intended function over useful life period, and also may experience an excessive level of field complaints and/or failure modes specific to those markets and also damage the image of the brand.

In the current automotive industry, in an increasingly challenging environment due to strong competition, to develop a product that performs its functions objectively, with quality and mainly with the lowest possible cost, these are the keys to conquer competitive advantage. This paper is intended to explore cost reduction of an automotive system by using the techniques of the methodology EV / AV (Engineering Value / Analysis Value). The analysis are framed as exploratory, in the form of study, with ratings of the components and their functions, followed by the generation of ideas with the completion of an indication of a great potential for a product development with optimized cost.

Microphone array based techniques have a growing range of applications in the vehicle development process. This paper evaluates the use of Spherical Beamforming (SB) to investigate the transmission of wind-generated noise into the passenger cabin, as one of the alternative ways to perform in-vehicle troubleshooting and design optimization. On track measurements at dominant wind noise conditions are taken with the spherical microphone array positioned at the front passenger head location. Experimental diligence and careful processing necessary to enable concise conclusions are briefly described. The application of Spherical Harmonics Angularly Resolved Pressure (SHARP) and the Filter-And-Sum (FAS) algorithms is compared. Data analysis variables, run-to-run repeatability and system capability to identify design modifications are studied.

The Brazilian Automotive regulations that are aimed towards the safety of drivers, passengers and pedestrians have gone through recent changes to prevent and/or minimize injury and trauma from different types of accidents. Until now, National Traffic Council (CONTRAN) Resolution n° 14/98 required vehicles to only have safety belts for an occupant restraint system, and frontal airbags were not required. Since the recent CONTRAN n° 311/09 Resolution requires mandatory frontal airbags, the occupant restraint system must be tuned due to the interaction with different components that may make up the system, like safety belts with pretensioners and seatbelt load limiting devices. The present study was developed to optimize the restraint system of a current vehicle in production, while focusing on minimizing the vehicle complexity. The optimization tool helped to develop a robust restraint system for the frontal passenger during a frontal impact [1].