Key To Lightweight Automobiles

[acechip]

Came across this article while browsing for a related piece of information and it sounded interesting. For all the bashing that cars made in India get for being lightweight and structurally unsound, the contents of this article may be key.

Super Glues Are the Secret to Making Cars Lighter - WSJ

I would like to pose this to the mech engineers in the forum who are perhaps also part of the Indian automobile industry. How much of this is true in Indian made cars ?

 

[rosinj]

The key to leightweight cars is not to use glue. Glue is already in use. The real key is: remove all the stuff which is useless. Means, why you Need up to 50 electrical Motors in a car? where is the Problem to move the Driver seat manually? Why is the Need to have power Windows? And so on and so on. Strip the car down to the essential things. Then it is leight, you have fun and saving fuel.

 

[Sam Dinkar]

Cars like Lotuses use glue to bind them together and its no wonder that they are known for their lightness. But I have to say that using glue alone is not the be all and end all of making light cars. There's a lot of stuff involved in designing a car that adds/removes weight to/from it. Type of metals, type of chassis, plastic gauge, number of fitments....the list is endless.

 

[Viru]

The idea behind weight reduction is to not rely on just a single factor. We can make lighter components by using better materials such as High Tensile steel. We can use fewer components by removing unnecessary features like seat heaters. We can reduce body weight by using fewer panels or by replacing rivets with glue.

The list could go on forever, but keep this in mind: a lighter car is NOT a less safe car. Lighter cars are more agile and have less braking distance which can make them safer. Not to mention it is usually the use of safety attributes such as crumple zones, ABS, EBD, airbags, etc. that determines safety.