Vehicle roof rail design development

Weight reduction and cost improvement are the leading topics that the automotive industry focuses on. These two topics have direct or indirect effects on environmental sustainability and financial sustainability. For this reason, each part on the vehicle is investigated in terms of design and analysis methods in a way that does not lose its function in the whole body and poses the subject of many optimization studies. In this study, the roof rails on the vehicle were chosen as the research subject. The design and function inputs of the roof rail that is used in mass production were determined and the materials and production methods on the part were revealed. In the light of this information, design of complete plastic roof rail was examined of which the current one made of aluminum material. The new roof rail design has been compared with the current part in terms of safety, design flexibility, production methods and costs.