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Stability and structural integrity are extremely important in the design of a vehicle. Structural foams, when used to fill body cavities and joints, can greatly improve the stiffness of the vehicle, and provide additional acoustical and structural benefits. This study involves modal testing and finite element analysis on a sports utility vehicle to understand the effect of structural foam on modal behavior. The modal analysis studies are performed on this vehicle to investigate the dynamic characteristics, joint stiffness and overall body behavior. A design of experiments (DOE) study was performed to understand how the foam's density and placement in the body influences vehicle stiffness. Prior to the design of experiments, a design sensitivity analysis (DSA) was done to identify the sensitive joints in the body structure and to minimize the number of design variables in the DOE study.

Today, all automotive manufacturers look for ways to improve areas of customer satisfaction. The use of a trim shop applied adhesive, along with slight to major design changes in the traditional roof/headliner system, will increase many areas of customer satisfaction. Customers may perceive improvements in acoustics; the manufacturer will realize parts elimination, mass reduction, improved structure and reliability, design flexibility and cost savings. In the following article, the traditional roof/headliner system with roof bows will be reviewed. A comparison will then be made between this system and two alternatives: a bonded structural headliner system with trim reinforcement material (TRM), and one without the trim reinforcement material.