Automotive Design

By Dr. Steve O'Neil, N'Fusion, Inc.

Automotive design has traditionally been an area of compromises. When I first worked in this area for emission control and engine design power programs, we always ended up on the bottom of the barrel. That is, "marketing" decided what the product should be, and then the other members of the team were told, "put this power plant and these features in this given, non-negotiable space." In my opinion there have been two drivers shaping this market: one is the demand of the consumer; the other is growing lip service to the environment.

Dissect car designs at the Inner Auto site

Jon Williams outlined an interesting ethical and sociological polemic addressing the options facing automotive design engineers this past year entitled Consumer Attitudes and Automotive Design Imperatives. You can peruse it at http://ambient.2y.net/jon/philo/ automotive_design_imperatives.html. One of the key themes of this article is that "the automotive marketplace is primarily shaped by consumer opinion and automotive engineering is largely a reactionary endeavor." This extrudes the design criteria as being "big, heavy cars with good power that can go anywhere if asked to and that make them feel safe." The implication of this scenario, combined with our dependence on foreign oil, has implications for us as a nation of gas guzzlers, but this is grist for another time.

The reality of automotive design in the 21st century is that "green" elements, sophisticated electronics, and cost efficiencies now rule. This trend started in the 1970s with the EPA "Muskie regulations" and was carried forward by CARB (the California Air Resources Board), which drove "clean" design and fuel efficiency initiatives to a level never seen before. The initial results were horrific--EGR, vacuum controls, canister kluges, and filters of doubtful efficiency. EFI and replaceable electronic module controls represented the most sophisticated advances in automotive electronics since the invention of the AM radio. With the advent of automatic gearing, ABS, and traction control systems, the era of the shade tree mechanic passed into history. For a comprehensive series of links to topics from air bags and air conditioning to recalls and seat belts, go to the American Automotive Design Engineering Expert Witness Center at http://www.aad website.com/links.html. Here you can also access hot links to major car and truck manufacturers, tire and parts producers, law, magazines, and motor sports.

Follow links at American Automotive Design

If your focus is more on mechanical and electrical components, a visit to the CAN in Automation site at http://www.can-cia.de is an appropriate reminder that CAN (Controller Area Network) technology was originally designed for the automotive environment to allow signals to run over a single wire. Likewise, the OSEK/VDX site at http://www-iiit.etec.uni-karlsruhe.de/~osek/ provides industry standards--new and previously released--free of charge. This is the European site dedicated to the promotion of open systems and the corresponding interfaces for automotive electronics. This is a refreshing change from sites such as the American-dominated Society of Automotive Engineers site at http://www.sae.org that charges $10 for a meager technical paper and from $59 to $65 for an individual transportation standard.

A surprisingly rich site for automotive design materials is sponsored by the American Iron and Steel Institute. Presented as Autosteel Online, it can be accessed at http://www.autosteel.org/. Although restricted to steel-related matters, the site provides links to industry events, design papers, and a new download (10 MB zipped file) titled Bar Steel Fatigue Database. There is also available for purchase a software program, AISI/CARS 2000 for Windows, that performs first order analyses of automotive designs. "Initiatives"--design studies available from the Auto/Steel Partnership at http://www.a-sp.org/body_initiatives.htm --offers free downloads including papers on adhesive bonding, steel design, forming limits, hydroforming materials and lubricants, corrosion testing, and many more. This site also offers, for free, a complete downloadable version of its Automotive Steel Design Manual (rev. 6, April 2000). This comprehensive guide covers steel making and classification, detailed bibliographies, design considerations, welding, design procedures, and tutorials.

Find materials info at Autosteel Online

For a good grip on the basics, the Technical University at Plymouth (UK) has a good course outline with lots of links to related topics. Their course is titled Automotive Engine Development and includes subsystem and component design, links to information on stress analysis, the design of machine elements, standards, limits and fits, lubrications, and useful "calculator" packages for crunching the numbers. Find it at http://www.tech.plymouth.ac.uk/sme/desnotes/desintro.htm. A useful companion site is the Inner Auto site at http://www.innerauto.com/ innerauto/image/engiov.html. Here you can access graphics and cutaways of engines, electric cars, turbochargers, etc. together with rollover points which pop up each major component's name. Too bad the presentation is marred by an extremely intrusive LinkExchange banner!

And from our "something for you" department: three sites you may find useful in your personal dealings. Kelley Blue Book at http://www.kbb.com. This site has one of the best calculators to help you determine the retail value of most cars, SUVs, and motorcycles back to the early 1980s. It also has many car reviews. Carfax at http://www.carfax.com allows you (at $19.95 for 2 months access) to search vehicles by VIN number to learn about any documented collisions, odometer fraud, fire damage, or salvage history. The NHTSA DOT Safety Problems and Issues site at http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/ is where to go to find out about recalls, defect investigations, consumer complaints, and safety information. The Technical Service Bulletins search engine will let you search summaries of manufacturers' technical service bulletins by year, make, and model.

Dr. Steve O'Neil

Steve O'Neil, Ph.D. is President of N'Fusion, Inc., an editorial and Internet consultancy which aids technology companies in integrating their print and online strategies, improving advertising and branding accountability, and building end-to-end e-commerce solutions. The company is headquartered in the Tampa Bay, FL area with offices and affiliates throughout the US, Europe, and the Pacific Rim. Steve can be reached at stephenjo@earth link.net or 727-742-9169.