This paper describes a program of work that aims to demonstrate the potential benefits in vehicle body design and construction resulting from the availability of zero failure electrical and electronic systems. The availability of such systems will create a technology "pull" rather than the more normal technology "push". The work undertaken by the consortium involved a comparative analysis of an existing benchmark vehicle structure and a modified structure that incorporates novel features that exploit the concept of zero failure electronics. The vehicle body was nominally divided into three compartments and each of these separately analysed for reduced number of parts, reduced costs and simplified manufacture and assembly. The overriding criterion was that the structural performance could not be compromised. Changes that were not specifically due to the advent of zero failure electronics were also not allowed. Software tools, such as Design For Assembly (DFA) and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) were used in the process. The results were very encouraging. Estimates of the overall weight saving, reduced component count, reduced manufacture and assembly time have all been calculated. The weight reduction corresponds with a fuel economy improvement of 0.6%.
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