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The emerging trends in commercial vehicle technology have increased the necessity for critical attribute engineering refinements. Drivability is emerging as one of the most significant attributes in the automotive sector. The degree of smoothness in a vehicle's response to the driver's input is termed as drivability. This attribute has to be rigorously refined in order to achieve brand specific vehicle characteristics, which will ensure a thorough product differentiation. In order to calibrate for a positive drivability feel, a methodology for evaluation of drivability is a prerequisite. The scope of this paper is aimed at describing the methodology for subjective and objective evaluation of drivability attributes in commercial vehicles. Drivability is a highly subjectively perceived attribute, therefore a subjective assessment technique to assess drivability attributes and sub-attributes are essential.

Commercial vehicle industry is often provoked to assess suitability of the most currently available steels in lieu of traditionally used ones. Such material substitutions are attempted even if the existing ones happen to be tried, tested and proven over a period of time. Motivation for an exercise of this sort is usually from the considerations of favorable cost, availability, manufacturability, durability, strength-to-weight ratio, etc. A rigorous route to carry-out such a feasibility study would be through physical prototyping and testing. This is usually an expensive and time consuming proposition. Virtual analysis, on the other hand is a more viable option. This paper proposes an even easier alternative of using the available test data to estimate fatigue life of an identical component made of a different material through use of established rules such as Neuber's.