SAE show plugs along

There were fewer exhibitors at this year's SAE World Congress & Exhibition (March 8-11, Detroit, MI) than last year, and the exhibitors introduced fewer new products. It also looked like there were fewer attendees, but for those who did show up, it was a fun and worthwhile experience.

Engineers were the big winners, as the show hosted an extensive slate of technical sessions, including some devoted specifically to test. These included Safety Test Methodology (SP-1879), Emissions Measurement and Testing (SP-1862), Testing and Instrumentation (SP-1871), and Accelerated Testing and Reliability (SP-1879). In addition, sessions such as Virtual Engineering and Reliability and Robust Design in Automotive Engineering (SP-1844) covered various aspects of modeling and simulation, topics that are becoming increasingly important to automotive test engineers (Ref. 1).

Many of the topical sessions also included a paper on a test topic. For example, Automobile Electronics and Systems Reliability (SP-1852) included the paper, "Introduction to International Standard ISO 16750" (paper 2004-01-0393). This standard is the latest environmental test standard for automotive electronics, and it includes test methods for mechanical, climatic, and chemical environments.

Walking a show floor and paging through a conference program can give you a good feeling for what's hot in an industry. When I asked a materials test exhibitor what he thought was the hottest topic in materials test right now, he quickly answered, "failure analysis." There was also an entire technical session devoted to this topic. The session, Failure Analysis and Creative Problem Solving (SP-1839), included a good overview of the failure analysis process—"Failure Analysis of Automotive Components" (paper 2004-01-0857).

Quality was also a hot topic this year. In addition to having a booth at the show, the American Society for Quality (ASQ; www.asq.org) worked with the Accelerated Testing Conference Committee to organize a session on six-sigma quality techniques. There seems to be interest in applying these techniques to the development process. This emphasis, coupled with recent good news about the improved reliability of American-made vehicles, is beneficial for the industry.

One other event worth noting was the press conference at which officials from the University of Iowa and the Electronic Stability Control (ESC) Coalition announced the results of a study of the effectiveness of ESC systems. The University of Iowa operates the National Advanced Driving Simulator (NADS; www.nads-sc.uiowa.edu/ ). Using the simulator (figure), researchers were able to create driving tests that explore vehicle and driver response with and without ESC, in conditions that would normally be too dangerous to perform in real life.

The study compared driver performance during three scenarios—incursion of another vehicle into the driver's path, curve departure, and wind gust—between two vehicles equipped with an ESC system and the same vehicles without the system. The study concluded that 34% more drivers maintained control of their vehicles with ESC than without.