Damage Evaluation and Mitigation of Outer Rear View Mirror Scalp Snaps

An automobile outer rear view mirror (ORVM) is fixed at the front exterior of the vehicle for helping the driver see areas behind and sides of the vehicle which are outside of their peripheral vision. Mirror Scalp is the cover which protects the components inside from human and other environmental damage. Hence the scalp must be properly designed and fitted to the rest of the assembly so that it allows the safe functioning of the ORVM, which is an active safety device. During automatic car washing, sometimes the scalp may get removed due to the huge force exerted by the scrubber, if the scalp is not fitted properly. Mirror scalp is fitted to the rest of the ORVM through snap-fits. Snap-fits are the simplest, quickest and most cost effective method of assembling two parts. When designed properly, parts with they can be assembled and disassembled numerous times without any adverse effect on the assembly and hence are most environmentally friendly. In present work, the effect of scrubber on the scalp is simulated using implicit methods through a finite element solver, ABAQUS. It is found on initial investigation that the snaps suffer from heavy plastic strain due to improper positioning and snap angles. It is suggested that the design be modified such that the snaps on the scalp are moved to avoid interference with other components. The other snaps may also be realigned in such a way that the design is safe and hence the damage of snaps is mitigated.