Engineering Requirements for Automotive Textiles

Textiles, particularly fabrics, are changing rapidly in composition and construction for automotive interiors. To meet these changes, the development of realistic engineering material requirements are necessary. To provide a durable, functional and competitive product, a textile specification and the tests it employs, must be based on the end item design and application, as well as the textile's composition and construction.

Over the past twenty years, synthetic fibers have replaced natural fibers with resultant increases in the physical properties and durability of interior trim. The future holds still more changes due to diminishing petroleum supplies from which most synthetic fibers are made. Future automotive textiles will be based on more efficient use of synthetic fibers, and possibly on the development of new fibers from cellulose or other natural compounds as a base.