Utilizing Weathering Effect to Understand Squeak Risk on Material Ageing 2021-26-0280

Squeak and rattle concerns accounts for approximately 10% of overall vehicle Things Gone Wrong (TGW) and are major quality concern for automotive OEM’s. Objectionable door noises such as squeak and rattle are among the top 10 IQS concerns under any OEM nameplate. Customers perceive Squeak and rattle noises inside a cabin as a major negative indicator of vehicle build quality and durability. Door squeak and rattle issues not only affects customer satisfaction index, but also increase warranty cost to OEM significantly. Especially, issues related to door, irritate customers due to material incompatibilities. Squeaks are friction-induced noises generated by stick-slip phenomenon between interfacing surfaces. Several factors, such as material property, friction coefficient, relative velocity, temperature, and humidity, are involved in squeak noise causes. For example, door armrest leather is exposed longer to sunlight and when customer places his hand on the armrest, an annoying squeak noise is generated due to permanent or temporary weathering effect.

In this study, an experimental work is conducted to investigate squeak performance of door trim materials against weather ageing effect. As per the standard SAE-J2412, one thousand five hundred hours of polymer weathering test which is considered equivalent to 5 years of product life were performed to door trim material samples. Material compatibility test were performed on door trim samples at different time intervals of 0, 250, 500,750, 1000& 1500 hrs to evaluate its squeak risk behavior. On basis of RPN results, it was found that some material combination failed at 500 and 750 hrs highlighting squeak risk due to weathering effect. This paper introduces a new DVP, where a process can be established for material selection and avoid customer irritants and improve the perceived quality not only for a new vehicle but even after mileage degradation.