Plastics in Automotive Glazing

Environmental issues, weight savings and emissions have overtaken cost reduction in the minds of designers and engineers within North American OEM and system supplier companies, according to the latest DuPont/SAE sector survey, Automotive Glazing is one area where plastics can help achieve big weight savings, at the same time opening up new possibilities in styling and part integration.

"Plastic automotive glazing can reduce the weight of a glazing element by more than half compared with glass and could be a key tool in realising challenging emissions and fuel efficiency target," said Chris Smith, Editor and Conference Manager of European Plastics News in Croydon, England. "It also offers new design freedom."

"Polycarbonate has almost eliminated glass from the global headlamp market but the challenge of replacing large area glass parts with plastics is much bigger," said Akron-based Plastics News Editor/Associate Publisher Robert Grace.