Carbon Fiber Could Be Coming to a Ford Subframe Near You
If you’re worried that your corroded subframe will one day eject your car’s engine or suspension components like a spent hull from an Ithaca pump, the future holds promise. (Though you should still get that undercarriage checked out.)
Ford Motor Company, working with mega supplier Magna International, has developed a prototype vehicle subframe made of carbon fiber-reinforced composites. The goal is to one day offer a subframe that’s impervious to rust, while reducing weight and complexity.
Magna claims the new structure reduces mass by 34 percent and makes do with 87 percent fewer parts.
Instead of the 45 steel parts needed to build a current Ford subframe, the prototype uses just four steel parts, plus two molded composite parts. Adhesive bonding and structural rivets join those two molded components into holy matrimony.
Besides the aforementioned benefits, equipping a vehicle with a carbon-fiber subframe could improve the model’s stiffness and crash performance. Assuming the structure holds up well under durability testing, the only potential drawback would be component cost — though the higher cost of the two composite pieces could be offset by the vast reduction in overall parts.
According to the supplier, the new design aced its performance requirements based on computer-aided engineering analyses. The subframes are now in production, bound for component and vehicle-level testing at Ford.
“Collaboration is the key to success in designing lightweight components that can give our customers fuel economy improvements without compromising ride and handling, durability or safety,” said Mike Whitens, Director of Vehicle Enterprise Systems with Ford Research and Advanced Engineering, in a statement.
He added, “We must continue to work hard to achieve these lightweight solutions at the most affordable costs.”
Next up for the prototypes is a healthy regimen of corrosion, stone chipping and bolt load retention tests, which can’t be performed by computers. While testing is underway, Ford plans to develop a game plan for the component’s manufacturing and assembly process.
The automaker hasn’t said what products would use the new subframe, nor when to expect it on the market. However, it certainly appears that the near future should yield a production model with a carbon fiber truss.
[Image: Ford Motor Company]
More by Steph Willems
Latest Car Reviews
Read moreLatest Product Reviews
Read moreRecent Comments
- FreedMike Meanwhile...Tesla's market share and YTD sales continue to decline, in an EV market that just set yet another quarterly sales record. Earth to Musk: stop with the political blather, stop with the pie-in-the-sky product promises, and start figuring out how to do a better job growing your business with good solid product that people want. Instead of a $30,000 self driving taxi that depends on all kinds of tech that isn't anywhere near ready for prime time, how about a $30,000 basic EV that depends on tech you already perfected? That will build your business; showing up at Trump rallies won't.
- 28-Cars-Later "Here in Washington state they want to pass a law dictating what tires you can buy or not." Uh, waht?
- Tassos NEVER. All season tires are perfectly adequate here in the Snowbelt MI. EVEN if none of my cars have FWD or AWD or 4WD but the most challenging of all, RWD, as all REAL cars should.
- Gray Here in Washington state they want to pass a law dictating what tires you can buy or not. They want to push economy tires in a northern state full of rain and snow. Everything in my driveway wears all terrains. I'm not giving that up for an up to 3 percent difference.
- 1995 SC I remember when Elon could do no wrong. Then we learned his politics and he can now do no right. And we is SpaceX always left out of his list of companies?
Comments
Join the conversation
If rust is the problem, why not use stainless steel? Sure it may cost $10k more at purchase, but almost 100% of that cost can be paid back when it's being sold or scrapped, because stainless steel is highly sought after.
Ah, the Ithaca Model 37. That's a burly bear. I believe you can "slam-fire" these by depressing the trigger and cycling the action. In 2017, having a 12-gauge named after one of the more liberal regions in New York is fairly ironic. But those 37s are plenty tough.