Method of Improving Slam Durability Fatigue of Vehicle Liftgate Subsystem for Fast-Track Vehicle Development Cycle

With reference to present literature, most OEMs are working on reducing product development time by around ~20%, through seamless integration of digital ecosystem and focusing on dynamic customer needs. The Systems Engineering approach focuses on functions & systems rather than components. In this approach, designers (Computer Aided Design) / analysts (Computer Aided Engineering) need to understand program requirements early to enable seamless integration. This approach also reduces the number of iterative loops between cross functions thereby reducing the development cycle time. In this paper, we have attempted to tackle a common challenge faced by Closures (Liftgate) engineering: meeting slam durability fatigue life while replicating customer normal and abusive closing behavior. For modern vehicles with faster vehicle development processes, major challenges are balancing mass with improved structural and durability performance, while also considering frequent design changes due to styling considerations. The designer needs to successfully execute these changes without major impact to timing and cost. This brings a need for Agile methodology to solve fatigue problems in fast-track vehicle programs. The proposed method can be adapted to improve closures structural design for any vehicle door to improve fatigue life durability.