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Automotive side door latches are considered safety-critical systems due to both federal and automotive OEM regulations. The paper presents a kinematical study, in terms of degrees of mobility, and the basic construction for an example mechanism utilized as an automotive side door latch. This system is represented and approximated with mechanisms with articulated bars, cams and gears. Mobility calculations for such type of mechanisms involve both the determination and the investigation of all involved kinematical elements and the nature of their mobile restraints (called kinematical couples). By applying the principles and the methods described in this paper similar investigations in terms of the degree of mobility for other side door latch design applications can be investigated.

The paper presents some aspects of the experimental investigation of shear stresses in the tire-road contact patch. The rolling process is achieved by loading a freely rotating tire against a movable table. The rig structure, measuring stages, and special developed programs are mentioned. A comparison between treadless and pattern tread band design, pertaining to shear stress distribution, is presented. The influence of inflation pressure and normal force values on the shape and magnitude of the shear stresses is also shown.

For most of the Central and East European (CEE) countries, the evaluation of the environment factors (with the 4 characteristic seasons), of the usage conditions of the car fleet and of the specific legislative framework is still a confusing subject, because of lack of documentation and standardization in this field. Or, under the present conditions, when these countries also show a unanimous desire for the adhesion to the European pollution regulations, for the specialists in calibration of the Engine Management Systems (EMS) it is very important to know what are the peculiarities of these countries.