Opportunities and Challenges for Increased Usage of Advanced High Strength Steels in Automotive Applications

摘要

In today's increasingly complex automotive industry, engineers must comprehend a wide array of governmental safety regulations and develop structural designs that will meet these requirements. In the United States, the government performs the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) for evaluation of front and side impact performance. The independent group Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) performs similar tests and is also in the process of adding additional evaluations for upper body and roof structure performance. While tests performed by the IIHS are not requirements mandated by the federal government, results of these tests are widely publicized to the buying public, compelling automakers to design their vehicles to perform well in these tests.