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Arvin Meritor

Lisa Bahash – Senior Director of Product Strategy, LVS

What will the car of 2018 look like?
In the automotive design world it’s not that far in the future when you consider that car design would begin in 2014 – just six years away. Many of the development technologies that we are working on are targeted for this timeframe.

What social/economic/technological trends do you think will have the greatest impact on car design in 2018?

• Social
o Reducing dependency on fossil fuel.
We are seeing this manifest itself in terms of alternative fuel sources and reducing fuel consumption demands. The latter is closely linked to the weight of the vehicle as well as to the operational efficiency of the engine.

o Green issues and Recyclability.
Europe has driven this with end of vehicle life regulations, but it was only a matter of time before this issue moved to the forefront in other regions of the world. As good corporate citizens, we must look for ways to improve upon this and move beyond what is legislated. There are many areas where improvements can be made. You are seeing this related to interior components with the use of renewable and natural fibre materials used in seating and interior panels. One area that is of particular interest for one of our products is the replacement of petroleum based fluid used in a shock absorber with a water-based or other more environmentally friendly material. This is also not just product based, but process based. As we design and produce these components we look to utilize environmentally friendly processes in the manufacturing facility.

o Increasing vehicle safety.
This will continue to grow in importance as on two different fronts. Legislative and social. This includes various pedestrian safety issues, passenger protection and crash avoidance/mitigation features and strategies. We are already seeing these trends with the US requiring stability control on all vehicles by 2012. Look at the level of stability control found in Europe. Many of the more advanced systems are beginning to appear, such as lane departure warning, brake –pre-loading and assist, radar/laser based collision warning systems. There are even studies extending into the “autonomous” car that drives itself with competitions and demo versions. California and some northern US snow ploughs already run a systems like this (except the drive must still steer) but it allows them to plough roads in white-out conditions and drive the truck “blind” looking only at a computer generated image of the road.

• Economic
o Increasing fuel costs.
As global demand continues to increase, the laws of supply and demand will of course play out on a global basis. This will drive consumers to demand more fuel efficient, less expensive to operate vehicles. The US is going though this process right now. As gasoline prices have increased, the full-size SUV and Truck market has suffered. As the price of fuel continues to increase, you will see a change in the North American market toward more fuel efficient vehicles and technologies.

o Increasing material costs.
Material costs are also being driven by global demand. As prices climb upward it will spur added interest in new materials and cause many suppliers and OEM to look at design alternatives.

o Ever stronger competition between OEMs.
This is forcing them to compete not just on price but on a number of other levels. Consumers are increasingly drawn towards vehicles that exactly fit their personalities and needs rather than compromising as in previous years. Therefore the quantity of niche vehicles produced from the same model line is growing with dramatic effects upon the variety present both in the OEMs product portfolio and that of their supply base. Additional advantage the OEM can be derived from new technology or comfort and ergonomic improvements. They are looking to their supply base to propose differentiating technologies in order for their vehicles to stand out form the crowd.

• Technological
o Electronic integration.
There is a continued march to integrate all vehicle systems. As an example, at one point ABS controls also served as traction control and were not integrated into the throttle. Even though there was too much power going to the drive wheels, the driver could continue to add power and it required the brakes to absorb this. Now with the integration of throttle control, traction control is much more effective. Now we have stability control, but there are still more advances to be made in this area. We foresee the day when suspension control will also be incorporated in to this increasing vehicle stability with active roll control, adaptive damping and active air suspension. Today this is present on only the highest end luxury and super cars but as always, trends begin here and disseminate downwards.

o Increased weight vs. increasing content.
As OEMs struggle to differentiate their products with new features and comfort electronics the content of their vehicles increases. The issue is that as content increases so does weight along with the accompanying challenges in ride, handling and fuel economy. To illustrate the scale of this issue a modern top range S Class Mercedes weighs over 5000lbs today, the equivalent W126 model in 1980 weighed just 3649lbs.

o Materials replacement.
Attached to the issue of rising weight the industry is constantly looking for new materials and processes to replace heavy steel components. The use of extruded aluminium, composites and other metals is increasing both in the vehicle structure and the components within it.

What technologies will be key in 2018?
• Alternative power source vehicles
o Increased usage of diesel and bio fuels
o Hybrid-Electric and Plug-In or Full Electric
o Hydrogen fuel cell
• New materials
o Aluminium
o Composites

• Electronics as a product differentiator
o Leading to smarter systems, powered with simplified mechanics

• Efficiency and greater integration around safety features and functions

How will your products and business sector develop?
• Products
o There are three main areas in which ArvinMeritor’s products are evolving to meet the demands of future vehicles. Firstly the weight of components will continue to decrease as we move from traditional steel to new lightweight materials. Secondly, the legal requirement for crashworthiness, occupant protection and anti-squeeze systems will continue to increase in both scale and scope on a global basis. Our components will continue to evolve into stronger, tougher and smarter advanced products. Finally, the demand for comfort functions is driving us to develop and propose new technologies and solutions to improve the ergonomics of the end user.

• Sector
o With regard to the automotive sector as a whole, the OEMs will look ever more towards key suppliers to support them in making attractive, differentiated vehicles. Whether it is individual product technologies that deliver all new functionalities or the removal of compromises that enable new styling advances, the OEM will reward these developments with business opportunities.

Where do you see the big opportunities?
• For ArvinMeritor we see four main areas of opportunity in the evolution of the vehicle and automotive industry.
o Firstly in terms of weight reduction and green issues ArvinMeritor is extremely active in both minimising the weight of existing products and in promoting new replacement materials for traditionally heavy components. Our Steel Wheel products are extremely light weight when compared to alternative steel designs and retain all of the cost and strength advantages of the material. Our Highly Integrated Plastic door Module replaces the steel carrier plate with a composite panel that also integrates a great many of the clips and fixtures to deliver a weight reduction in the range of 25% over an equivalent steel item. Similarly our Next Generation Sunroof product reduces the number of sub-components by as much as 50 percent when compared to conventional products. This reduction in parts also provides notable weight savings.

o Increasing safety requirements also have a positive effect for ArvinMeritor in two ways:

In the field of passive safety systems ArvinMeritor has over 70 years of experience in designing and manufacturing safety critical components. Our door latch products featured on the first car ever to be awarded the maximum 5-star crashworthiness rating by Euro-NCAP and on a great number of subsequent 5-star vehicles since. The extremely innovative LER Latch product provides a mechanical failsafe backup solution that overcomes all the traditional issues with electric latch concepts and still delivers class leading size, weight and operating efforts. In the area of sunroof products ArvinMeritor has developed modular roof systems that actually increase the physical strength of the vehicle’s roof. By designing and building product in this way further drive the structural integrity of vehicles fitted with our product. Our developments in Steel Wheel design and materials have resulted in products that are stronger than aluminium designs but no longer carry the extreme weight penalty that has been traditionally associated with steel wheels.

Regarding active safety, in addition to improving ride and comfort, each one of our advanced chassis products above have a positive impact on safety, and when used as a package offer even greater benefit. The next level of safety is to integrate the suspension controls into the stability and roll-control systems. This would shorten braking distances, improve handling and reduce the incidence of vehicle roll-overs. This sort of active safety technology is already coming into the market. There are a few OEMs offering braking systems that pre-charge the system and will apply maximum brake force if they detect an impending and unavoidable impact. Many of the required ancillary components required for these systems are already in place -- radar systems, speed, yaw, roll rate, and G sensors. As software logic, controls by-wire applications and system speeds increase many more systems will become part of the active safety system.

o Increasing ergonomic improvements require very advanced electro-mechanical developments in the fields of latching, windows and roofs. Features such as keyless entry, silent locking and low energy release are all being addressed via products such as ArvinMeritor’s LER Latch system. In our roofs business our modular systems improve comfort with advanced wind deflectors and intelligent roof design whilst simultaneously improving headroom, interior space and cabin light levels. Plug-in anti-squeeze designs such as those found on our New Generation Window Motor allow OEMs to add express up functionality wherever they need it and integrated electronics such as the Smart Systems™ Electronic Door Control Module make grouping window, latch, door and mirror controls into a single functional control unit both easy and inexpensive.

o Styling is more important than ever in capturing market share for the OEMs. Therefore products such as ArvinMeritor’s large opening roof system that floods the cabin with natural light or the modular multi-panel roof that folds impressively above the vehicle are tangible selling features. Similarly the extremely low operating efforts of the LER latch reduce the need for the door handle to sit within a certain orientation to the latch and so free up the stylists to innovate the design of their door panels without compromise.

What skills/specialisms will you need from engineers in 2018?

• In future years our engineering base will need to evolve to incorporate increasing levels of Electronics and Software engineers. ArvinMeritor has recently begun an entire company-wide initiative via it’s Smart Systems™ technology approach to build upon the new electronic design teams we have formed. Engineers will also need Cross-Systems knowledge and need to be exceptionally innovative to fully understand both the product and its operational environment whilst bringing end-user visible innovations to the OEM. Finally as our industry continues to spread, engineers will need to be both Global in attitude and have multi-lingual skills to enable international teams to cooperate efficiently. With more than 66 manufacturing locations in twenty three countries over six continents, ArvinMeritor feels very well placed to capitalise on the future.

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