Truck cabins with reduced NVH and blind spots

Reducing blind spots via “enhanced direct vision” cab designs

By 2029, all European trucks must have “bigger and better positioned windows, with the driver’s cab lowered down to a height similar to large vans,” states Transport & Environment magazine. 

To help reduce blind spots, designers will rely on a range of strategies, including minimizing the profile for the A-pillars and roof rails. SSAB has experience supporting automotive Tier 1 suppliers such as Shape Corp., who, for example, 3D cold formed Docol^® 1700MPa martensitic steel for minimal profile A-pillars with 38% weight reduction.

Some cab designs that make vulnerable road users more visible to truck drivers. (Image courtesy of Transport for London).

Lightweighting truck cabs while increasing stiffness through complex geometries

Future truck cabin designs will focus on lightweighting using stronger structural materials. Given the requirements for durability, stiffness, and cost-effectiveness, AHSS and UHSS steels will be preferred over alternatives such as aluminum. 

To further increase truck cab stiffness to meet noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) goals, designers will need to deploy parts with complex geometries, necessitating the use of steels with high formability, such as Docol^® Dual Phase and Docol^® Complex Phase grades. Alternatively, Docol^® martensitic grades can be cold-formed into relatively advanced profiles using 2D or 3D roll forming. Roll forming offers truck OEMs high productivity and flexibility, with the ability to scale parts (e.g., make them long or short) to meet multiple variants (models) of truck cabin designs on the same basic platform.