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The Automotive industry’s use of digital technology such as Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) to perform virtual validation has progressed to effectively replace a large percentage of physical validation. This is primarily due to the increased accuracy and cost/time efficiencies that virtual validation offers compared to conventional physical prototyping and testing. With product development (PD) cycles becoming more compressed, CAE has assumed a more significant role in early, advanced design and structural evaluation. One of the areas where CAE is widely employed is in development of the Instrument Panel (IP) commonly referred to as the dashboard. For the purposes of this study, the term IP represents the plastic/polymer structure only, and not the full IP sub-system. The IP sub-system includes the structural member, the Cross Car Beam (CCB) assembly and all the IP mounted modules.