Plastic fantastic for future cars

[loxxr6]

(courtsey of www.drive.com.au site)

Interesting article. Also mentions FPV & HSV's invite to look at purchasing lighter weight panels.

http://www.drive.com.au/editorial/ar...f=4&bg=24&pp=3

[Iphido]

Should be concidered, along with carbon fiber, aluminium and alloys.

But do we really want to drive plastic cars?

Certain panels I think you could get away with.. Would love to see a falcon or a commodore with a transperant roof like some french/german cars. But the roof you don't touch, you don't see a whole lot of. Nothing hits it, except bird crap and hail stones which plastic would be superior. Plus with plastics cheaper tooling Ford and holden could afford proper tooling for sunroofs instead of cutting holes with angle grinders. It would also lower the cars C.G and could provide improvements in NVH..

[Laminge]

Are panels part of the saftey crumple zones?

[WILDTRAKPX2]

Originally Posted by Iphido

But the roof you don't touch, you don't see a whole lot of. Nothing hits it, except bird crap and hail stones which plastic would be superior.

I think I'd rather have a steel roof if the car ended upside down.

[Sylox]

Originally Posted by Shockwave XR8

I think I'd rather have a steel roof if the car ended upside down.

I hear that.

The Nissan X Trail (???)already has plastic guards its a weird feeling when you put you hand on the guard and it bows inward.

[Laminge]

I fail to see the issue, if guards, and roof, have no impact into the safety design or structural integrity of the car, why does it matter?

[mik]

plastic roof panel ,no thanks.

[LethalLeigh]

Have you guys seen a smart fortwo or forfour before? They have the main structure as a visible safety cell made from steel whilst the panels are made from plastic. Both of these cars still have class average or better EuroNCAP ratings.

Also, Rinspeed just built a concept car with a large number of plastic components to demonstrate just how far the technology has come. I don't think plastic is something to fear, and hell, we might even see family cars weighing less than 1500kg again one day.

[JPFS1]

Definitely looking/looked at it.

Alot of issues remain, especially when it comes to crash characteristics and design limitations.

[T_Terror]

Id much prefer a rollcage personally...

[chief]

I am all happy for people to have plastic cars (is in there enough plastic in a car already?) if it passes the safety requirements, as long as it is not my car. I would prefer a heavier steel car than plastic.

[Iphido]

The outer roof skin doesn't contibute to the structural strength of the car in a significant way. The ABC pillars do as does the bits that go across the car to join them to the pillars. If they were structural then sunroofs would require crashtests.

Supporting a car in a roll over can be done with the A pillars only. Side impacts are more of a concern but a link between the two B pillars would solve that.

Which is why BMW and Merc are keen to swap over to carbon fiber, its easy for them to do.

I would love to sit in a falcon with a large transperant roof made out of durable light plastic. It would really open up the feel of the car immensely. As there is no convertable it would be the next best thing. Imagine sitting in the back of the new Orion at night watching the stars up above as you travel sydney to melbourne.

You could then use LCD to darking the glass when the sun is out or have a moveable cover come across.

I would have to be throughly tested. Australian sun + pastics = warp/cracks/discolouration/etc

[AWD Chaser]

There's a new material which car makers may start using. They showed it on "Beyond Tomorrow" last night. It's a mix between sheet metal and fibreglass with lots of layers of both - alot stonger and lighter (by about 20 or 30%). They are using it on those new Airbus planes.

[Bossxr8]

VE is supposed to be using plastic for the headlight brackets and for the spare wheel well.