Mechanical
Influences
TEC452 Home
History Index
Functions of Automotive
Body
Design Factors
The Body Challenge
The Early Days
Early Body and Chassis
Mass Production
American Styling Revolution
The Italians
Safety
Voice of the Customer
Mechanical Influences
Evolution of Body Features
The
mid-engine configuration offers greater styling versatility
The Front Wheel Drive (FWD) Challenge
- FWD offers packaging benefits
- Combining the drive shaft with the steering links and
struts was a difficult problem
- RWD was initially chosen for its relative simplicity
- Independent front suspension further complicated the
drive-shaft problems
- Something much better than universal joints was
needed
- FWD was used in Alvis and other vehicles as early as
1929, but with many reliability problems
- Citroen, BMC, and Fiat first introduced reliable FWD
in their production cars
- FWD/RWD have a significant impact on body design, as
they form the basis for the fundamental package to be covered by the body
1960 BMC Mini
- The first truly successful implementation of FWD in
1959
- Few designs have stayed the same for so long
Vauxhall Nova (FWD)
- FWD presents packaging efficiencies, as shown above
- In this design, very little intrusion into the
passenger and luggage compartments
FWD Configurations' Impact the Vehciale Aerodynamics
- # 4 is the best configuration, least frontal area,
lowest Cd
- The drive configuration has the greatest impact
on the car design, because,
- Sets the toe board
- Sets the rear seat back position
- FWD usually allows the overall length of the vehicle to be less for
the same interior space, thus a greater "packaging efficiency"