Thermoplastic Polyurethane Headliners: Properties, Processing, and European Market

Prefabricated headliners are now completely accepted in Europe and have almost fully substituted conventional suspension headliners. This success in the European marked did however take some time.

The headliner versions developed in the USA and Japan provided guidelines for the European development.

The initial reason for using prefabricated headliners came from the assembly line. It was necessary to make it easier for workers to fit the headliner into the car.

But there was a second important argument which still applies: cost reduction. The cost reduction argument became the pet of all who had developed a prefabricated headliner.

This is ultimately the reason why in the early days of the changeover to the new system only very cheap solutions were ever discussed. This demand has since remained the most important challenge for all innovative steps.