Trends: Lightweight Vehicles Get Better MPG

For the auto industry and consumers alike, it’s time that we see the light. Before we can shrink the carbon footprint of our products, before we can boost our mileage beyond the next barrier, and before we can adopt a new generation drivetrain, we must make our vehicles lighter.

The good news is that going lighter doesn’t have to mean an austere interior or less durability. With some clever tweaks, combined with some real breakthroughs and game-changing innovations, we can remove a significant amount of weight from vehicles over the coming months and years without sacrificing safety, comfort, and attractiveness while also making vehicles easier to recycle at end of life. Moreover, these new products can be cost-neutral compared with the systems they replace.

Faurecia recently unveiled its Light Attitude concept, with 10 rule-busting innovations that challenge the form and function of today’s vehicles to cut more than 66 pounds (30 kg). Multiplied by one million vehicles that roll out from a single platform annually, we estimate a savings of more than 11 million barrels of imported oil a year, as well as 750 kg of carbon reduction over the lifetime of each vehicle. Our innovation experts applied new, lightweight materials to perform functions traditionally carried out by heavier metal or plastic, and we designed around the essential function of each module or system, adding new styling dimensions.

The results included a self-supporting instrument panel, without a cross-car beam, covered by cloth material that lightens the instrument panel and allows diffused air to blow through it to help heat and cool the passenger cabin more smoothly. We replaced the glovebox lid with a fabric-covered system that, with the push of a button, slides up, much as bedcovers would be pulled back.

Faurecia engineers reinvented the center console as well, replacing 70 percent of the solid materials with soft fabric kept in place by elastic cords, with sock-like cupholders and a foldout wing for a purse or a bag.

Rather than cover the door interior substrate with vinyl or fabric, we expose it decoratively and mix natural fibers in the substrate material. A premium audio system uses the door module itself as an acoustic chamber, allowing for lighter speakers producing bigger sound than standard systems.

The seats in Light Attitude are far thinner than conventional seating, yet the system is as comfortable and safe as standard seats. An ultra-thin, nylon and glass-fiber seat back combines with a seat cushion fashioned from the same material used in the soles of sports shoes, one that is 50 percent thinner than conventional cushions.

Under the vehicle, Faurecia has made the lighter exhaust system tubes thinner by one-third compared to conventional systems. A lightweight muffler shell is far less hefty than standard shells and reduces radiated noise. Faurecia’s fabricated manifold replaces the traditional cast manifold to slash more weight.

We lighten and green vehicles further with a building-block-style carrier for the front end module, replacing steel with plastic and foam that are both recycled and recyclable; a new type of lightweight acoustic dash insulator that is easier to recycle; and a smart docking station for a media player.

While many of Light Attitude’s innovations advance lightweight design beyond anything ever seen before, they are not ‘futuristic.’ We already are working with several automakers on light-weighting their vehicles. We are rethinking materials, components, and vehicle architectures while using existing technologies and tooling to make sure it’s cost feasible.

As the industry strives for better mileage to reduce emissions, it’s time to view our cars and trucks in a new light if we expect to ignite a new era of green vehicles.

— Philippe Aumont is Vice President of Product Planning at Faurecia, a world-leading automotive supplier based in Nanterre, France, with its North American headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan