Interested in a vehicle whose design reveals the engineering philosophy OEMs use to build vehicles today and points to what the future golds? Consider the Dodge Challenger GT. First manufactured in 2017, the Challenger GT is retro, modern and futuristic. It’s both daring and conservative, exciting and reserved, practical and maddening—all at the same time.
Start with the exterior. No other current car better recalls a past era. Large, wide with its traditional muscular stance, and heavy, the Challenger arrives in a range of eye-popping colors and designs right out of 1967. It’s also the muscle-car reimagined for today, with a luxurious leather interior, and an array of standard and optional safety-equipment, including blind-spot cross path detection and backup warnings. Most notably, it includes AWD, becoming the first vehicle of its kind to find a welcome place on northern roads during the winter. It also fits three adults or children in baby seats in the back. Mated to a V-6 306-hp engine, power output is decent, and gas mileage is respectable.
The lack of a hemi-engine and its family-friendly posturing has some muscle traditionalists howling, “Who is the GT for?”
The answer: Anyone who wants the muscle-car look in a more practical vehicle. This answer also reveals the thinking behind much modern automotive design. Manufacturers build on strengths (in this case, appearance) and then take steps to make it accessible to more customers. The use of alternative materials follows the same philosophy.
Across the industry and brands, OEMs don’t restrict themselves to one particular formula using HSS, aluminum and other materials. They instead employ a number of material mixes that best build on a vehicle’s existing strengths while keeping it accessible (typically, holding down costs). This information can be critical when working in the collision repair industry. Shops must remain curent on the direction of vehicle design to ensure they map out their futures correctly.
The following vehicles are experiencing some major influxes of alternative materials in their structures and parts. Note how they employ this material philosophy and consider how it will influence the ways you do business.
Safety first
Put a new 2020 Subaru Outback beside the 2019 model, and you probably won’t notice any significant differences, on the outside at least. Underneath that familiar skin is a major transformation. The Subaru Global Platform on the Outback features a substantial increase in the use of HSS.
The reason: According to Youichi Hori, Outback Project General Manager in Japan, safety is paramount at Subaru. Therefore, achieving the highest safety ratings is a top priority. High-strength steels are a key solution to improving crash safety; therefore, their use has increased, Hori says.
For the 2020 model, HSS utilization jumps from 7.2 percent to 20.4 percent. Hot-press steel, the strongest HSS, is used to fortify areas that best protect vehicle occupants. It forms the B-pillar to better protect against side impacts, along with both bumper guards and parts of the bottom structure, for front and rear collisions.
Also new is 108 feet of structural adhesive as well as two-component structural foam for increased body-rigidity (Note: the adhesive does not replace welds). Subaru says these additions have made the structure 70-percent stiffer in both torsional and front-suspension rigidity and 100-percent stiffer in both front lateral flexural and rear subframe rigidity, compared to the previous Outback platform.
The result is a new Outback (whose hallmarks have long been safety and stability) that is safer and rides better than its predecessor while costing just $335 more.
Volkswagen took a similarly aggressive approach with the 2019 Jetta, upping the use of UHSS to 47 percent of the vehicle. Most of that (making up fully 37 percent of the vehicle) is the hot-press variety. Of the remaining 53 percent of the Jetta, 39 percent is extra high strength steel.
These additions were made to protect motorists, a point Volkswagen punctuated during the introductions of the vehicle when the company made several more nods to the Jetta’s improved safety. Company reps touted the Jetta’s advanced driver assistance systems for providing a “dramatic increase in safety.” Volkswagen Brand Chairman Herbert Diess pointed to other safety systems, specifically autobraking and forward collision warning, he noted had cut in half crashes involving third parties. As with the new Outback, the Jetta is safer than ever with little effect on affordability. The 2019 model, costs $300 less than its predecessor.
The 2019/2020 Kia Forte follows a similar trajectory. Advanced HSS now comprises 54 percent of the vehicle, up from 51 percent in the 2018 version. More components are made from hot-pressed steel. The Forte was already declared a Top Safety Pick by Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The company chose to build on this success.
Weight watchers
While OEMs have doubled down on the safety of mid-size and smaller vehicles, they’ve targeted alternative materials as weight reducers and muscle builders in larger vehicles. Ford helped set the stage for this movement with the aluminum-intensive 2015 F-150 (also featuring a new high-strength steel frame) that cut nearly 700 pounds from previous year’s offerings.
For its 2019 Ram 1500, Dodge made extensive use of a wide array of HSS and other materials to shave pounds wherever it could in body panels and the core structure while adding durability. Fenders, doors and the roof are now comprised of 210 (MPa) bake hard steel while the truck bed 340 utilizes (MPa) high-strength low-alloy (HSLA) steel. The supporting structure surrounding the engine bay and forward wall is 760 (MPa) multi-phase steel. The A-, B- and C- pillars use a 1300 MPa press hardened steel. Within the door shell is a 1300 MPa press-hardened steel door beam.
The frame itself is 98 percent HSS, which cuts vehicle weight by almost 100 pounds. Another 100 pounds is shaved by using HSS in 54 percent of the truck body. Aluminum is used throughout. A 6,000-series aluminum alloy drops 10 pounds from the hood and 15 pounds from the tailgate. Aluminum additionally is used for:
- engine mounts
- front axle center section
- front suspension crossmember
- transmission crossmember and the
- steering system gear.
Dodge also substituted lightweight, high-tensile composite materials in the place of metals, most notably in the upper front suspension control arms (integrated with a steel structure) and the air dam structure, which is made from, and combined with, composite materials.
Dodge says the Ram is stronger and more durable than ever with an overall reduction of 225 pounds from the previous model. Interesting here is the fact that the company says the weight reduction allows for the addition of “more convenience, comfort and entertainment features.” The lighter-weight materials, then, allow for more features but don’t affect fuel economy as much as they potentially could. But that doesn’t mean Dodge ignored efficiency. Instead, the company turned to an upgraded powerplant for fuel savings. New fuel-saving technology such as thermal management, eTorque and active aerodynamics hold down costs at the pump.
Rounding out the transformation of the three best-selling full-sized trucks in the U.S., the 2019 Silverado got larger and stronger while dropping weight in a new format with a significant increase in alternative materials. The Silverado’s wheelbase was extended 3.9 in. and the vehicle’s overall length expanded1.6 in., increasing cargo volume and interior room for all Silverado trims. Weight was cut significantly, particularly in the V-8 crew cab, coming in 450 pounds less than the 2018 model.
GM credits the reduction to “extensive use of mixed materials and advanced manufacturing processes.” This includes making all exterior swing panels (doors, hood and tailgate) from aluminum and fixed panels (fenders, roof and bed) are made of steel. The underlying safety cage uses seven different grades of steel, each tailored for a specific application.
A fully boxed steel frame is a88 pounds lighter than its predecessor. Eighty percent of the frame is composed of high-strength steel varying from 2 to 5 millimeters in thickness, constructed using a variety of processes, including hydroforming, roll forming, conventional stamping and tailor-rolled blanking. Frame sections, gauges, grades, processes and materials are strategically varied to help GM maximize strength, durability and stiffness without adding unnecessary mass.
An all-new suspension also incorporates mixed materials. The front independent short/long arm suspension utilizes lighter forged-aluminum upper control arms that GM says provide better wheel alignment than the previous stamped component. The live-axle rear suspension includes new composite second-stage springs on LT models that save about 12 pounds per side over the steel springs.
Like the Ram 1500, the 2019 Silverado isn’t relying solely on weight reductions to increase fuel efficiency. The Silverado is available with six engine/transmission combinations to give customers the combination of performance and efficiency that fits their needs. New 5.3L and 6.2L V-8s feature a Dynamic Fuel Management system that actively shuts off any number of cylinders, in a variety of combinations, depending on immediate needs to optimize fuel economy.
The times they are a-changing
Together, the F-150, Ram 1500 and Silverado sold over 2 million units in 2018 and are the top three best-selling vehicles in the U.S. The Ram 1500 and Silverado were finalists for the North American Truck of the Year award. The Forte and Jetta were nominated as North American Car of the Year. A number of other vehicles saw their use of alternative materials rise significantly over the past two years. Industry analyst Ken Schumacher says these developments represent a “tipping point” for manufacturers and repairers alike.
“These materials are no longer simply part of what makes a vehicle, they’re the standard,” he says. “When you realize that automakers are killing off smaller vehicles that don’t use these materials in favor of larger vehicles that do incorporate them, especially in the U.S., you get a better idea of how the auto market will look over the next decade and what follows that.”
Schumacher says this means repairers will need to adjust their operations accordingly to handle an influx of work where sectioning will rarely be an option and expensive new tools and equipment will be needed to create bonds and repair damaged parts. In an effort to protect the value of their products, OEMs could increasingly demand repairers join repair networks or become certified on certain repairs before they can order parts.
Moreover, simply following OEM repair guidelines won’t be enough to keep shops in business performing safe repairs. “There’s a big difference between following repair steps and truly understanding what you’re doing because you have training and experience,” Schumacher says.
He notes, “A lot of shops have been getting by without the training basically because they’re hoping to pick up enough work performing repairs they’re comfortable with because they’ve seen them before. The market has now determined that this is going to change.”
Even shops who have planned for this day by staying up to date and earning certifications will see new challenges keeping up with OEM changes. As OEMs search for new ways to incorporate alternative materials, they’ll need to develop new manufacturing technologies (as GM did with the new Silverado), says Schumacher. Some of these technologies will be too expensive for shops to adopt as they perform repairs. Indeed, shops are already seeing this phenomenon with some higher-end vehicles that require special rivets to replace manufacturer bonds that can’t be created outside the factory.
OEMs and shops will have to put their heads together to determine affordable repair methods, says Schumacher. Arguably, there’s no better way to prepare for this meeting of the minds than understanding the thinking behind OEM engineering decisions. Knowing what drives these choices should be a key point of interest for any shop looking to thrive in this new age of materials and repairs.
