Ground clearance plays a vital role in an off-road vehicle during off roading. Higher the ground clearance, higher is the difficulty during ingress & egress of the vehicle. This brings in the necessity to provide entry-assist grab-handles for vehicle with more ground clearance (>200mm). Entry-assist grab handles alleviates the pain of the occupants during ingress and egress.
For entry-assist grab handles’ purpose to be served, it should provide comfortable ergonomic grip & have to take the load of passengers while ingress or egress through-out the complete life cycle of the vehicle. Entry Assist grab handles can be fitted on A-Pillar zone to assist first row passengers & on B-pillar zone to assist second row passenger.
Providing entry-assist grab handles on pillar trims make the grab-handles exposed to head-impact zone and hence, in most of the cases, it should pass the head impact regulations framed for respective countries.
This paper dwells upon the importance of a material used for entry-assist grab handle purpose in meeting durability, and safety targets as per regulation. The proposed material grade also shows reduction in weight as compared to the conventional materials used for Entry Assist Grab handle. Not-withstanding, we have discussed the behavioral comparison of different materials that are used conventionally and the key benefits for the proposed material are discussed in the paper. The proposed material is also compatible to be manufactured by Gas assist injection molding process.