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The automotive industry is expected to accelerate the transition to revolutionary products, rapid changes in technology and increasing technological sophistication. This will require engineers to advance their knowledge, connect and integrate different areas of knowledge and be skilled in synthesis. In addition, they must learn to work in cross-disciplinary teams and adopt a systems approach. The College of Engineering and Computer Science (CECS) at the University of Michigan-Dearborn (UM-Dearborn) responded by creating interdisciplinary MS and Ph.D. programs in automotive systems engineering (ASE) and augmenting them with hands-on research. Students at the undergraduate level can also engage in numerous ASE activities. UM-Dearborn's ASE programs offer interesting and possibly unique advantages. The first is that it offers a spectrum of ASE degree and credit programs, from the MS to the Ph.D. to continuing education.

The Low Mass Vehicle (LMV) that is a minivan designed to compete with the Toyota Echo but with 30% less mass has been used for the research in the Institute for Advanced Vehicle Systems. To reduce the aerodynamic forces on the LMV, the present authors have developed a rear spoiler of a new type based on the principles of fluid dynamics and through numerical computations. This new spoiler has been developed in such a way that the aerodynamic drag as well as lift on vehicles having a bluff back can be reduced when the new spoiler is attached to them. Numerical simulations show that the aerodynamic drag and lift on the LMV moving at 30 m/s reduce by 5 % and more than 100 %, respectively, when the new spoiler is attached to it.

This paper presents results of a research project conducted to develop a methodology and to refine the specifications of a small, low mass, low cost vehicle being developed at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. The challenge was to assure that the design would meet the needs and expectations of customers in three different countries, namely, China, India and the United States. U.S, Chinese and Indian students studying on the university campus represented customers from their respective countries for our surveys and provided us with the necessary data on: 1) Importance of various vehicle level attributes to the entry level small car customer, 2) Preferences to various features, and 3) Direction magnitude estimation on parameters to size the vehicle for each of the three markets.

This paper documents the design and verification process of a modular spaceframe platform for SUV, hatchback, sedan and station wagon conducted at the Institute for Advanced Vehicle Systems (IAVS) of the University of Michigan-Dearborn. The goal of the project was to show the feasibility of a cost effective family of vehicles for low volume markets and reduce the body structure mass while meeting current industry and federal standards. For low volume markets the cost of using spaceframe construction is more economical compared to the traditional unibody construction. Cost is further reduced because a family of low volume vehicles would share a lot of common parts. Also, spaceframes can use extruded sections joint by cast nodes, which are both inexpensive. The results discussed in this paper show the CAE work done on beam models for a family of vehicles including, sedan, station wagon, hatchback and SUV.

This paper describes a unique interior design and multidisciplinary process implemented by the faculty and students to develop the interior for a Low Mass Vehicle (LMV). The 103 inch LMV was designed with the goal of about 30% reduction in weight than a typical class C segment vehicle and would require low investment in manufacturing. In the early stages of the program, the UM-Dearborn team developed detailed requirements of the vehicle interior based on the vehicle's exterior developed using a similar process. The requirements were given to a senior class of automotive design students from the College of Creative Studies in Detroit to create different interior design themes. Approximately twenty-five interior design themes were judged by a panel of automotive industry experts, and a winning design was selected.