Subaru is embarking on a plan to cut development costs per vehicle by 100,000 yen, or about $905 at current exchange rates. Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., which makes Subarus, will reduce the number of test models partly by doing fewer crash tests.
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^heres an article from Automotive news.. can anyone post the whole article?

So they are "broadening and enhancing" their safety testing now, too? :(

According to a NY Times article last week (see http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/08/18/business/super.php): But in April, the Japanese Automobile Manufacturers Association reported that the Earth Simulator had been used by automotive engineers in greatly increasing the speed and resolution of car-crash simulations, potentially offering a significant reduction in development time for new car models.Japan's Earth Simulator supercomputer (34.9 teraflops) was once the world's fastest computer but has now slipped to 4th place.

If supercomputer simulations allow engineers to get to the stage where they actually crash test the final design faster and cheaper, then why not?

Knowing technology has the ability to provide fairly accurate FEA (Finite Element Analysis) on virtual destructive testing, I am all for it. We've done several cases recently to validate the FEA models at the company I work for and it's been darn close every time. Now I know doing an entire model is a bit more intensive (hence the need for such grid power), but it is possible to produce fairly accurate results with less physical models required to validate successful FEA.

:lol: FEA means ugly female in Spanish :lol:

Sorry for the interruption, now back to your regularly scheduled tech talk. ;)

Would FEM (Finite Element Modeling) help with acceptance?

Sure that's a good definition of that acronym too Jon. ;)

:lol: FEA means ugly female in Spanish :lol:

Sorry for the interruption, now back to your regularly scheduled tech talk. ;)

:lol: That was unexpected. :D

here it is


Subaru embarking on plan to speed product development while reducing costs
YUZO YAMAGUCHI | Automotive News
Posted Date: 8/23/05
TOKYO -- Subaru is embarking on a plan to cut development costs per vehicle by 100,000 yen, or about $905 at current exchange rates.

Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., which makes Subarus, will reduce the number of test models partly by doing fewer crash tests.

Instead, the automaker will use computer-simulated crashes. The company aims to reduce its vehicle development time, now about 20 months, by 10 to 20 percent.

Fuji also plans to share more parts among nameplates to save money.

The automaker will apply the cost-cutting methods to all upcoming models.

It plans to redesign the Legacy in 2009 for the United States after remodeling the Impreza and Forester.

Fuji's U.S. operation also is cutting costs. By using General Motors' global purchasing network, Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc. in Lafayette, Ind., aims to cut its purchasing costs by 13.5 percent by year end.

Subaru of Indiana forecasts that it will lose $207 million in 2005, compared with a $74 million loss last year.

The bigger loss reflects spending to launch the B9 Tribeca sport wagon and to remove production equipment that Fuji Heavy's ex-joint venture partner, Isuzu Motors Ltd., used there.

Cutting costs, huh? Hopefully it will not be cutting corners too (if following ANY GM model, then I'm afraid it's the latter).