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The paper describes an engineering project carried out to optimize the crashworthiness of an existing passenger car for frontal crash using a procedure relying on numerical simulation. An optimization target is defined in terms of an ideal acceleration pulse at the seats anchors. The acceleration time history and structural members are scanned in parallel to correlate the local acceleration peaks to specific structural members. Members details are iteratively modified in order to alter the accelerations and get closer to the target.

The paper presents the design, development and manufacturing of the vacuum brazed aluminum radiator (VBAR), which was introduced in 1983 in conjunction with Ford Tempo/Topaz vehicles. The VBAR represents significant improvements in performance, weight, cost, durability, reliability and environmental effects in manufacturing processes, when compared to a conventional copper/brass radiator. The paper also addresses the type of corrosion tests utilized during the product design verification process.