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Customer's expectations are increasing in the competitive automotive market. In an effort to enhance marketability, interior and exterior trim parts that are comprised of plastic, paints, and films are being assessed for scratch and scuff durability. There are many different methods used inside and outside the automotive industry to determine the performance of these materials. However, the majority of these methods do not correlate the performance of the material to the customer's expectations. This paper reviews existing scratch/scuff methods and advancements in scratch/scuff performance test methodology from analyzing driver and passenger zones, customer expectations, and part design.

Mono-materials are utilized in soft pads for automotive interior components to ease recycling efforts. Olefin is an example of a mono-material, and olefin instrument panels (I/P) are produced using a vacuum forming method. To simplify the production process for these parts, adhesive spray coating on the surface of the plastic foundation has been replaced by pre-coating on the reverse surface of the laminated skin, enabling the reduction of both adhesive spraying and drying procedures in the forming process. Development of an adhesive with excellent high temperature adhesion performance on olefin has eliminated the necessity for pretreatment of the olefin foundation and the skin (primer treatment and flame treatment). This has enabled a significant reduction in the forming procedures and has rationalized the process.