News

Software

Tesla Aerodynamicists Use CFD to Evaluate Yaw Performance

Automotive aerodynamics ultimately resolves into the six forces and moments that a vehicle moving through an environment experiences. In wind-tunnel testing, the typical frame of...

News

Design

Next-Gen Seatbelt Retractor

TRW Automotive Holdings Corp. has launched its next-generation seatbelt retractor, the Floating Spool 1 (FS1), which offers reduced weight (about 15% lighter) and smaller dimensions compared to previous systems,...

News

Automotive

Envisaging and Delivering More Functional Concept Cars

Concept car creation is invariably a high-cost, labor-intensive, time-critical operation with an end result that can be delicate to the touch, may lack the perceived quality essential...

Q&A

Power

Meeting the Need for Engineering Talent

Perhaps no one knows the realities of the U.S. engineering job market more than Laura Kurtz, Manager, U.S. Recruiting at Ford Motor Co. The shortage of engineers and the increased competition among...

Technology Report

Automotive

Honda, Peugeot Stylists Make Digital Renderings a Focal Point of Design

As stylists transition to digital designs with fewer physical prototypes, they are seeking more realistic real-time graphics. Honda and PSA Peugeot Citroën have each...

News

Automotive

Ford Test-Protocol Error Causes EPA Ratings Revision

An error in a key vehicle fuel-economy test protocol caused Ford to lower its U.S. EPA fuel economy (FE) ratings for six 2013 and 2014 model year Ford and Lincoln vehicles, most of them...

News

Design

GMZ Energy Demos Device for Waste-Heat Recapture

GMZ Energy has announced the successful demonstration of a high-temperature thermoelectric generation (TEG) unit designed for automotive (civilian and military) waste-heat recapture. In the...

News

Power

Simulating to Track Soot Formations in Diesel Engines

It is not easy to see what is going on inside an engine—it is a hot and hostile environment. But if you are an engine designer seeking to optimize engines for fuel efficiency and...

News

Design

Personnel Moves at Denso

Among several recent personnel moves by Denso International America Inc. are added responsibilities for Roger Berg and the hiring of Dr. Gary Horvat.

Product Briefs

Automotive

3-D Tool-Pathing Solution

Through collaborative efforts, Spatial Corp. and Omax Corp. offer an easy-to-use 3-D tool-pathing solution for waterjet machining. The new Intelli-CAM software tool for OMAX JetMachining Centers generates 3-D tool...

News

Automotive

Book Explores Role of AHSS in Vehicle Lightweighting

Automotive Lightweighting Using Advanced High-Strength Steels from SAE International explores the role of advanced high-strength steels (AHSS) in addressing the challenge of vehicle...

News

Software

Oregon State Captures Fourth FSAE Michigan Title in Five Years

Oregon State University’s Global Formula Racing (GFR) team took top honors with a total score of 876.6 at the 2014 Formula SAE Michigan competition, held May 14-17 at Michigan...

News

Software

Systems-engineering a New 4x4 Benchmark

"We set a high target for this program: Create the industry’s most fuel-efficient four-wheel-drive system, with the greatest off-road capability and functionality,” said Mike Kirk, Chrysler’s...

News

Transportation

Land Rover's Discovery Vision Concept Has Real Future for 2015

The Land Rover Discovery's image is of a capably rugged vehicle with room for seven, and interior luxury that goes with its clearly premium exterior. But what makes the...

News

Software

FPGA Motor Simulation

OPAL-RT Technologies offers a suite of tools to make field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based simulation accessible to engineers developing controllers for electric drives. First, a set of real-time motor models,...

News

Automotive

Japanese OEMs Tops at Involving Suppliers Early in Development Process, Says 2014 Study

Toyota and Honda are better than the traditional domestic Big 3 at involving suppliers early in the product development process, according to results of...

Product Briefs

Design

Universal Vision Sensor

Balluff’s BVS universal vision sensor offers 360° part position detection, defect finding, contour-based counting and matching, barcode reading (linear and 2-D DM), and optical character verification (OCV). It also...

News

Design

Walking Through Some Ideas for Improved Pedestrian Safety

"Everyone is a pedestrian" is a traffic safety dictum of NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). That's pretty obvious, but America's pedestrian safety record is not...

Technology Report

Automotive

Dual-Use Heater Core Contributes to Better Vehicle Fuel Economy

Imagine a vehicle towing a 3000-lb (1360-kg) trailer up a 6% grade on a 110°F (43°C) day. This scenario describes less than 1% of driving time, but 100% of vehicles have...

News

Energy

Driving Good Dynamics

Dave Rollett, Vehicle Dynamics Team Leader at motorsport and engineering consultancy Prodrive, is forthright in his views about car buyers: “Most do not know what good dynamics feel like, yet they form strong...

News

Aerospace

Materials Intelligence Consortium Launched

Granta Design at the recent SAE 2014 World Congress launched the Automotive Materials Consortium (AutoMatlC) that will bring together OEMs and suppliers in the automotive and off-highway sectors to...

News

Design

More Attractive Kia Sedona Minivan on All-New Platform

"It's a multipurpose vehicle (MPV)," said Kia Product Planning VP Orth Hedrick of the 2015 Sedona, introduced at the 2014 New York International Auto Show. Although it has a some...

News

Design

GM Restructuring Its Global Vehicle-Engineering Organization

In part to improve safety performance of its vehicles and to enhance cross-system integration, General Motors is restructuring its global vehicle-engineering organization. It will...

News

Design

GM Creates Global Product Integrity Team in Wake of Ignition-Switch Recall

In the wake of its ignition switch recall, General Motors CEO Mary Barra has announced creation of a Global Product Integrity organization. Housed within the Global...

News

Transportation

Toyota Technical Center Names a Fifth Chief Engineer

Toyota Technical Center (TTC) recently named Monte Kaehr to the position of American Chief Engineer, with responsibility for the Camry. He is only the fifth person to attain the title of...

News

Manufacturing & Prototyping

Reaching the Next Generation of Vehicle Consumers

With keen observational skills and straight talk, a street-smart 40-year-old entrepreneur makes connections with that elusive younger generation of car buyers known as Generation Y.

News

Manufacturing & Prototyping

The Complexity of Vehicle Connectivity

News

Software

Engineers Clamor for More Techniques to Make Vehicles Quieter

Smaller engines, lightweighting, and even connectivity are a few of the trends that dominate the drive to reduce fuel consumption and emissions. Those developments are making...

News

Software

Argonne Helps Private Industry Develop Engines Faster and Cheaper

In a bid to expand use of its expertise to a wider audience, Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) developed the Virtual Engine Research Institute and Fuels Initiative. This...