Post on 08-Jan-2022
PAGE 20 · www.autonewseurope.com November 26, 2007
Faurecia aids assembly of Dodge Avenger
CUSHION FRAME:LEGGETT & PLATT
DOOR INNER BELT:METZELER
CLEARCOAT:PPG INDUSTRIES
ENGINE COOLING FAN:NIDEC MOTORS AND ACTUATORS
FRONT END MODULE:FAURECIA
TRANSMISSION COMPONENTS:STACKPOLE
WHEELS:ALCOA, ARVINMERITOR, DICASTAL, SUPERIOR INDUSTRIES INTERNATIONAL
WHEEL AND TIRE ASSEMBLIES:ANDROID
AUDIO SYSTEM RADIOS:ALPINE ELECTRONICS, HARMAN/BECKER, SIEMENS VDO
HALF SHAFTS:GKN
ACOUSTIC ENGINE COVER:WOCO
ALUMINUM ENGINE BLOCK:NEMAK
PISTON & RING ASSEMBLY:HYUNDAI MOBIS
TENSIONER:GATES
WIRELESS CONTROL MODULE:OMRON
A/C ACCUMULATOR:TI AUTOMOTIVE
SHOCK ABSORBER:MONROE AUTO EQUIPMENT, TENNECO
WIPER MODULES:BOSCH
DASH ASSEMBLY:AZ AUTOMOTIVE
WIRING:YAZAKI
DAMPING PADS:AKSYS USA
CLUTCH:ZF FRIEDRICHSHAFEN
FASCIAS:LDM TECHNOLOGIES
GLASS:PILKINGTON, PPG
Faurecia is a big contributor to the new Dodge Avenger. The Frenchsupplier provides the front-end module, plus the shock absorptionand lighting systems. The parts are supplied to Dodge’s SterlingHeights, Michigan, factory from Faurecia’s new plant in the same US
town. Faurecia supplies seats from a second plant in Sterling Heights.ThyssenKrupp Presta supplies the car’s steering column shaft andintermediate steering shaft. Dodge wanted to add length adjustmentto the steering adjustment. ThyssenKrupp’s “tube-in-tube” column
spindle allows easy adjustment of the steering without a negativeeffect on the driving feel.
Steven Wingett
BASE SPEAKERS:PANASONIC
INTERIOR MIRRORS:GENTEX
CALIPER:AKEBONO
INFLATABLE CURTAIN:AUTOLIV
POWER SEAT ADJUSTER:BROSE
HEADREST:KONGSBERG
DECKLID & PROPS:STABILUS
LOCKSETS:STRATTEC
FILLER PIPE COATING:MAGNI GROUP
REAR SUSPENSION CRADLE:MODATEK SYSTEMS (COSMA)
DOOR CASSETTE MODULES:INTIER
TUFTED CARPET:RIETER
TAIL LAMPS:MERIDIAN
TIRES:BRIDGESTONE, FIRESTONE
SUSPENSION MODULE:TRW AUTOMOTIVE
CROSS-CAR ROOF BOW:NOBLE METAL PROCESSING
TECHNICAL ADHESIVE TAPES:SCAPA
WASHER PUMP:KAUTEX
STEERING COLUMN SHAFT:THYSSENKRUPP PRESTA
SEATING ATTACHMENTS FLANGEFORM NUTS:BAS COMPONENTS
WHEEL BEARINGS:NTN
Car Cutaway
Suppliers wanted: If you are a supplier and have questions or want your information considered for our cutaway features, contact Steven Wingett at automotivenews@supplierbusiness.com.
Safety is priority on lithium ion batteriesAutomakers, suppliers cau-tious after fires led to recalls
Richard TruettAutomotive News Europe
DETROIT � Automakers know a lot is riding on the lithium ion bat-teries that will power future hybridvehicles.
Consumers already may be wary oflithium ion batteries. Overheating bythose batteries led to fires in laptopcomputers and massive recalls. Butlithium ion batteries are seen as thenext leap in hybrid technology.
So the motto for carmakers devel-oping the technology is: Safety first.
The consequences of getting itwrong are simply unacceptable. Thefear is someone being injured orkilled. Even a less-severe accidentwould be intolerable.
If the lithium ion battery packs inhybrids overheat or catch fire, the le-gal costs could be enormous and thedamage to a company’s reputationhuge. It could be years before car buy-ers regain trust in the batteries.
With about half the weight andtwice the power of the nickel-metalhydride batteries powering today’shybrids, lithium ion batteries wouldlet a hybrid travel farther on electric-ity. They’ll boost fuel economy andreduce emissions. And they will makeplug-in hybrids possible.
Toyota was expected to use lithiumion batteries in the next-generationPrius in 2009. But the automakerchanged its mind this summer andsaid the next-generation Prius willkeep nickel-metal hydride batteries.
At General Motors’ battery lab insuburban Detroit, test machines run24 hours a day, charging and dis-charging lithium ion battery packs
from Johnson Controls-Saft, A123Systems, Compact Power and otherwould-be suppliers. GM pushes thebatteries to their limits and monitorsevery facet of their performance.
Ford Motor also is taking its timeevaluating the new batteries.
“Putting something out there thatisn’t right could destroy the image ofthe technology,” says Nancy Gioia,Ford’s director of sustainable mobili-ty technologies and hybrid vehicleprograms. “I’d love to be first, but mygoal is to get it right.”
GM has bet big on lithium ion bat-teries to power its Chevrolet Volt. GMbelieves the batteries will be ready forproduction by 2010 or 2011.
Batteries for Mercedes, BMW
GM, Ford, Toyota, Chrysler andothers are testing hybrid test fleetswith lithium ion batteries in severalcountries under extreme tempera-tures and varied driving conditions.
With Toyota postponing lithiumion batteries, Johnson Controls-Saftcould be first to market with them.
Next summer, the company plansto ship the batteries to Daimler foruse in a Mercedes mild hybrid sedanand then to BMW for a similar use.
Johnson Controls-Saft has batterycontracts with GM for a plug-in ver-sion of the Saturn Vue, and with sev-eral other automakers for lithium ionbatteries.
Johnson Controls-Saft is a French-American joint venture. JohnsonControls, a supplier best known forinterior components, also dominatesthe replacement lead-acid batterymarket with numerous brands sold atauto parts stores and dealerships.Saft, a giant French battery company,makes lithium ion batteries for mili-tary and industrial uses.
Two keys to safety with lithium ionbatteries:1. Manufacturing. The batteries must
be assembled in temperature-con-trolled, dust- and dirt-free plants thatare as clean as hospital operatingrooms. Even the slightest metal con-tamination inside the batteries couldlead to an internal short circuit.
2. The control system. The batteriesneed an electronic device to monitorcells and remove those with flaws.Johnson Controls-Saft makes the
batteries and binds them into ready-to-plug-in packs. Those packs have amanagement system that can be tai-lored to a specific vehicle.
That’s the company’s advantageover suppliers who make only batter-ies, says Johnson Controls’ MaryAnne Wright. She is general manag-er of Johnson Controls’ hybrid sys-
tems group and heads Johnson Con-trols-Saft Advanced Power Solutions.
Craig Rigby, Johnson Controls-Saftvice president of systems engineer-ing for hybrid battery systems saysbattery safety systems are more com-plex for lithium ion battery packsthan for nickel-metal hybrids.
A Toyota Prius, Rigby says, moni-tors the battery pack as a unit, butthat may not be the safest approachfor lithium ion batteries.
“The challenge with lithium ion is alittle different from what you do withnickel-metal hydride. It really de-mands that you monitor certain char-acteristics at the cell level,” he says.
If one cell overheats because of acooling issue, voltage spike or manu-facturing flaw, it can start a fire thatspreads to other cells. The sixth-gen-eration Johnson Controls-Saft system
isolates a cell to prevent overheating.Says Rigby: “The software will say,
‘if I see a cell that is getting too higha voltage or temperature, I will takeaction.’ If eventually we need to shutdown the system, we will.”
At its US battery laboratory nearMilwaukee, Wisconsin, JohnsonControls is preparing its prototypebattery technology, battery manage-ment systems and mass-productionprocedures. A pilot production linelets engineers work with Saft coun-terparts to fine-tune mass-manufac-turing for car-sized lithium ion cells.
Saft has experience in making verylarge lithium ion batteries for mili-tary uses. The challenge for JohnsonControls, and other companies, is todevelop a way to build the batteriesquickly, at low cost, in a package thatfits cars and light trucks. ANE
A plug-in version of the Saturn Vue will use lithium ion batteries.
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