International Automotive Components (IAC) Group supplies globally Cockpit, Floor Consoles, Over heads, Interior trim and Door trim modules which cover the major interior commodity in the vehicle. The products are designed and integrated with major Safety Restraint System like Airbags – Seamless Airbag technology is one of our major global strengths and our products are Designed/Engineered and Manufactured globally to meet the performance requirements of every country Regulatory Requirements, asserts Mr. P.C. Jayan, Director – Engineering, IAC International Automotive India Pvt. Ltd., his perception.
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Mandatory and other safety requirements in products
IAC has successfully introduced our patented Air Bag Chute about 6 yrs. back with an Indian OEM that passed all environmental and regulatory testing. Based on its success, other OEM’s are now working with IAC to introduce same design for their upcoming vehicles. IAC has also implemented patented design for side impact crash pad which is capable to meet side impact for 5th, 50th and 95 percentile occupants thus providing a versatile and economic solution to the challenging regulatory requirement. Soon IAC will have capability of introducing Curtain Air Bag (CAB) ready headliners from new line. IAC India has capability of simulating Crash Condition in-house through CAE thus providing a risk free design to customers.
Safety features and highlights in applications
Typically the interior of the vehicle will be protected with SRS (Safety Restraint Systems – Like Airbags / HIP pushers / EA brackets, etc.) which are essential to prevent or mitigate the occupant Injury level scores in the event of a Crash or an Impact. These safety measures are integrated in the Interior of the vehicle which enhances the Energy Management – Like a typical accident in a vehicle actually is nothing but two events which occur- One being the Vehicle to External sources and the other one is between the Occupant to Vehicle, Which means more amount of Energy management Systems integrated is going to reduce the injury levels between the Occupant to vehicles. This is the basic phenomena of Safety Management. It is also essential that these units are packaged with the right performance requirements in terms of Occupant H points positioning and also enabled with a Structure enclosing the boundary for meeting the robust performance.
Safety apprehensions at higher road speeds
Speed definitely places a crucial importance in all means of Transport be it the Two Wheeler, Light Motor vehicles or the Heavy Commercial vehicles. The Regulatory bodies like ARAI, TUV or Consumer NCAP Group (New Car Assessment Programs) has governance over the testing attributes for the Safety performance of the vehicle. With the increase in Speed limits the Design and Testing simulations will also need to be enhanced with the test set up so all the Design and Analysis simulation will be to make our products safe which can be confirmed and vehicles launched will be compliant to meet the Critical Safety factors apart from speed which is the need for Safe Motoring.
Speed has a direct influence to the Restraint system which needs to be packaged protected in the vehicle which means Faster Airbags / Different positioning of Airbags / Different Energy Management Strategy all could be some of the areas which can be engineered.
Light-weighting necessity and trend
By the year 2020, the automotive market is expected to grow to 100 million new vehicles per year. The trend of light-weighting in transport industry has become a major theme of research in recent years, the main goals being anticipated fuel savings and meeting stricter environmental legislations in various jurisdictions such as Europe, North America, and Asia. This has led to component manufacturers across the world to come up with lightweight solutions for their OEM customers.
IAC embraces and deploys continuous improvement philosophies and shares best practices globally including India. Fuelled with a passion to deliver exciting solutions, IAC has recently developed new products that are innovative, lighter in weight and environmental friendly interior solutions. IAC’s processes and products help reduce environmental impact with recyclable materials, supporting efficient manufacturing.