. 6 Mb' I 8.5 . A34 no DOT- TSC- -NHTSA-80-7 DOT- HS- 805 538 NHTSA- 80-7 LIGHT DUTY TRUCK WEIGHT REDUCTION EVALUATION i j-'Dr-^rr- r nri * | i MENT n ;v ^ I j, j -CATION i 5 1981 0. Viergutz M. Nusbaum I library w^asseu W . Fi 1 1 ma n C . Hales G . Waring I IT RESEARCH INSTITUTE 10 West 35 Street Chicago IL 6061 OCTOBER 1980 FINAL REPORT DOCUMENT IS AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC THROUGH THE NATIONAL TECHNICAL INFORMATION SERVICE, SPRINGFIELD, VIRGINIA 22161 Prepared for: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Office of Research and Development Washington DC 20590 . NOTICE This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The United States Govern- ment assumes no liability for its contents or use thereof NOTICE The United States Government does not endorse pro- ducts or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturer’s names appear herein solely because they are con- sidered essential to the object of this report. NOTICE The views and conclusions contained in the document are those of the author(s) and should not be inter- preted as necessarily representing the official policies or opinions, either expressed or implied, of the Department of Transportation. Technical Report Documentation Page 1 . Report No. 2. Government Accession No. 3. Recipient’s Catalog No. DOT-HS-805 538 4. Title and Subtitle 5. Report Date LIGHT DUTY TRUCK WEIGHT REDUCTION EVALUATION October 1980 6. Performing Organization Code 8, Performing Organization Report No. 7. Author's) o. Viergutz, M. Nusbaum, W. Fillman, C. Hales, G. Waring DOT-TSC-NHTSA-80-7 9. Performing Organization Name and Address — -• ,10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS) T^r \ : — jj IIT Research Institute* ’ HS052/R0147 | LX' A 4 ; .1 ) •H Wl A W: ! 10 West 35th Street 11. Contract or Grant No. Chicago IL 60616 | DOT-TSC-1467 hi AT Y I'9d 1 | 13. Type of Report and Period Covered 12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address Final Report U.S. Department of Transportation UBFtaRY Dec. 1977-Nov. 1978 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Office of Research and Development 14. Sponsoring Ageney Code Washington DC 20590 15. Supplementary Notes U. S . Department of Transportation Research and Special Programs Administration *Under contract to Transportation Systems Center Cambridge MA 02142 16. Abstract The objective of this program is to identify the weight reduction potential of pickup trucks, vans, and utility vehicles less than or equal to 8500 lb. gross vehicle weight through design modification, redesign, and material substitution. The subobjectives inherent in this statement of the overall objective are: the documentation and characterization of the existing world light truck fleet; the identification of the currently most weight efficient light truck; the identifica- tion of the currently most weight efficient light truck; the identification of ac- ceptable reductions in vehicle function; the evaluation of the potential for material substitution; the potential for redesign consistent with 1985 technology; and the documentation of the optimum weight efficient state of the art light duty truck (LDT). 17. Key Words 18. Distribution Statement Light Duty Truck, Market Acceptance, DOCUMENT IS AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC Weight Reduction, Vehicle Redesign, THROUGH THE N ATI ON A L TECHN I C A L INFORMATION SE R V I CE SP R I NG F I E L Weight Efficient, Material Substitution , D, VIRGINIA 22161 19. Security Classif. (of this report) 20. Security Classif. (of this page) 21. No. of P ages 22. Price 233 Unclass if ied Unclassified (8-72) Form DOT F 1700.7 Reproduction of completed page authorized . .. PREFACE This final report is submitted by I IT Research Institute (IITRI) under contract to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Transportation Systems Center in support of the Automotive Fuel Economy program. The weight reduction evaluation herein pre- sented for light duty trucks was conducted under Contract DOT-TSC-1467 The program manager and principal investigator for this project was Mr. Owen J. Viergutz, P.E. Major contributing effort was supplied by Messrs. M. Nusbaum, W. Fillman, C. Hales, and G. Waring. Other individuals who deserve recognition include D. Hanify, G„ Ebey, K. Norikane, L. Barbarek, C. Schramm and Ms. D. Hooper. Additionally the authors wish to acknowledge the assistance provided by Mr. W. Tanner, Consultant for the auto- motive indus try A major portion of this program was subcontracted to the Fiat Research Center of Orbassano, Turin, Italy. The program manager for Fiat was Mr. R. Piccolo. Major participants in this program were: M. DeRossi, P. Castelli, L. Morello, R. Muratori and , R. Leonardis Special appreciation is expressed to Dr. Hsi-Sheng Hsia and H. Gould of the Transportation Systems Center for their coopera- tion and support which helped to maintain the intensive program schedule Finally we would like to acknowledge the contributions of individuals in the industry to support our technology assessment. Specifically we would like to thank: Ford Motor Company Chrysler Motors L. V. Farago R. 0. Sorenson M. A. Wheeler W. L. Dornbrack F. N. Parrill c. Connelly S . G. Lyons B. H . S imp s on F. J. Baccari iii . .. PREFACE This final report is submitted by IIT Research Institute (IITRI) under contract to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Transportation Systems Center in support of the Automotive Fuel Economy program. The weight reduction evaluation herein pre- sented for light duty trucks was conducted under Contract DOT-TSC- 1467 The program manager and principal investigator for this project was Mr. Owen J. Viergutz, P.E. Major contributing effort was supplied by Messrs. M. Nusbaum, W. Fillman, C. Hales, and G. Waring. Other individuals who deserve recognition include D. Hanify, G. Ebey, K. Norikane, L. Barbarek, C. Schramm and Ms. D. Hooper. Additionally the authors wish to acknowledge the assistance provided by Mr. W. Tanner, Consultant for the auto- motive industry. A major portion of this program was subcontracted to the Fiat Research Center of Orbassano, Turin, Italy. The program manager for Fiat was Mr. R. Piccolo. Major participants in this program were: M. DeRossi, P. Castelli, L. Morello, R. and Muratori , R. Leonardis Special appreciation is expressed to Dr. Hsi-Sheng Hsia and H. Gould of the Transportation Systems Center for their coopera- tion and support which helped to maintain the intensive program schedule Finally we would like to acknowledge the contributions of individuals in the industry to support our technology assessment. Specifically we would like to thank: Ford Motor Company Chrysler Motors L. V. Farago R. O. Sorenson M. A. Wheeler W. L. Dornbrack F. N. Parrill C. Connelly S. G. Lyons B . H . S imp s on F. J. Baccari 111 . General Motors Corporation Daimler-Benz A. G. C. A. Matson G. Wolters A. Stenglein Renault-Saviem Volkswagen Werk G. Mercier R. Schmidt C. Lanchec Vauxhall -Bedford J. Wedge Considerable ffort was devoted to the thoughtful response to our investigations. The comments acquired provided a meaning- ful insight into the industry's concern for weight efficiency. The shifting national energy consumption pattern and the increasing emphasis placed upon improving automotive efficiency is of utmost concern to the industry and research communities alike. The automotive industry is actively engaged in a major realignment of its automotive and light duty truck lines to im- prove efficiency. In order to achieve these Government mandated fuel economy standards the industry must continue to aggressive- ly pursue every available technological avenue. This report attempts to identify the potential for improving the weight efficiency of the light duty truck fleet while main- taining the utility and marketability of the vehicles. Of prin- cipal concern to this determination was the characterization of market acceptance of improved efficiency vehicles and the deriva- tion of functional requirements for specific vehicle missions. In the development of design and material substitution op- tions available to the 1985 vehicle manufacturers it was important that the perspective technology be critically selected. The in- dustry as a whole has a wide variety of technological options available. However, any single manufacturer is limited to avail- able in-house technology. As the in-place plant is replaced new technology may be incorporated, but the introduction of this technology is contingent upon normal production equipment life cycles IV It is apparent that new technology will need to be intro- duced in an accelerated manner if the mandated fuel economies are to be achieved. The economic tradeoff between on the road efficiency improvements and the cost of obtaining these economies is a critical issue. This report identifies technologically feasible weight efficiency improvements and first order cost im- pacts. It remains unanswered if the level of weight reduction achievable warrants the expenditure required. 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