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The suspension system in a vehicle isolates the frame and body from road shocks and vibrations which would otherwise be transferred to the passengers and goods. Heavier goods vehicles use tandem axles at the rear for load carrying. Both the axles should be inter-connected to eliminate overloading of any one axle when this goes over a bump or a ditch. One of the inter-connecting mechanism used is leaf spring with tie rod, bell crank & linkages, when the first rear axle moves over a bump, the linkages equalize the loading on the second rear axle. This paper details about the failure analysis methodology to simulate the tie rod field failure using a six poster road simulator and to identify the root cause of the failure and further corrective actions.

The modern day automobile customers’ expectations are sky-high. The automotive manufacturers need to provide sophisticated, cost-effective comfort to stay in this competitive world. Air conditioning is one of the major features which provides a better comfort but also adds up to the increase in operating fuel cost of vehicle. According to the sources the efficiency of internal combustion engine is 30% and 70% of energy is wasted to atmosphere. The current Air conditioners in automobiles use Vapour compression system (VCS) which utilizes a portion of shaft power of the engine at its input; this in turn reduces the brake power output and increases the specific fuel consumption (SFC) of the engine. With the current depletion rate of fossil fuels, it is necessary to conserve the available resources and use it effectively which also contributes to maintain a good balance in greenhouse effect thus protecting the environment.

In today competitive world, gaining customer delight is the most vital part of an automotive business. Customers’ expectations are high which need to be satisfied limitless, to stay in the business. The major expectation of a commercial vehicle customer is a vehicle without failures which involves lower spares cost and downtime. The significance of a suspension system in the new age automobiles is getting advanced. There have been many improvements in the suspension system especially in leaf springs to provide a better ride comfort, and one such modern era implementation is the Parabolic Spring which comprises of fewer leaves with varying thickness from the center to the ends without inter-leaf friction. Study reveals that parabolic spring exhibits better ride comfort, but less life compared to a conventional leaf spring which leads to the increase in downtime of the vehicle.