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This paper explains a method to estimate and reduce brake pulling of vehicles due to force difference between RH and LH brake during straight ahead braking. One of the cause of brake pulling during straight ahead braking is brake force difference between right and left brakes of front and rear axles. It is challenging to eliminate this unwanted pulling especially during panic braking in shorter wheelbase vehicles having high center of gravity (CG) and drum brake on all wheels. A mathematical model is developed to estimate amount of brake pulling from known parameters like brake force, tire properties, steering geometry, suspension hard points, vehicle CG, scrub radius, castor angle etc. Vehicle tests were conducted to measure amount of brake pulling and close correlation was observed between vehicle test results and derived model.

In order to meet the stringent crashworthy regulations and to improve the fuel economy more and more composite materials have been used in automotive industry. The damage and the corresponding failure mechanisms of the composite materials during loading are entirely different from the isotropic materials. The numerical modeling of the above and prediction of the corresponding performance parameters of a composite structure are very important. Normally, the numerical modeling of the composite structures was done with a single layer of shell or solid elements. However, the approach of using single layer of elements cannot capture the effect of delamination which causes the split of the composite structures through thickness. In order to prove this an axial impact study was conducted on cylindrical pultruded glass polyester composite tubes.