The paper describes the development of a finite element model to predict the deformation values of a passenger car door under lateral loading. This correlated closely to those of the measured deflections from a test on an actual door. The model has proved to be valuable for investigating the behaviour of the door under static loading conditions. The paper then discusses the application of the techniques for designing a light weight composite car door.

One aspect of the research was concerned with occupant safety during side impact. Hence, an anti-intrusion door beam was designed and incorporated into the model to satisfy the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS214) requirement. The initial crush resistance was obtained by using a composite tube. The combined effect of the tube and the reinforcing ribs of the inner panel of the composite door satisfied the intermediate and peak crushing resistance requirements of the FMVSS214.

The material used for the composite door design was a glass mat reinforced thermoplastic. The properties of this material were used in a plastic analysis which predicted the deformation and the failure load with acceptable accuracy. The composite door resulted in a 36.9% reduction in weight and a 33.6% reduction in material cost. The technique provides significant savings in prototype testing and enables efficient use of the material.