Truck Designers Glimpse the Future at SAE Show
But where do the engineers and designers go to see the innovations in equipment and components not yet available to the truck buyer? Their show of choice is the exposition that coincides with the annual international meeting of the Society of Automotive Engineers Truck and Bus Group.
This is where the future is on display. Here the engineers and designers examine the products they may want to incorporate into their own vehicle offerings, a cycle that takes two to three years and sometimes longer.
This year’s SAE show was laden with products designed to improve safety and driver comfort, while others addressed vehicle efficiency issues ranging from maintenance intervals to equipment durability.
- Indiana Mills and Manufacturing Inc. supplies seat belts and sleeper restraints to all truck builders. It has broadened its line to include seat belt pre-tensioners and a seat assembly pull-down, which have been available only on Freightliner’s Century Class tractor. Now the Westfield, Ind., company is making them available to any truck maker.
IMMI also showed an inflatable side air bag, which unlike the versions for automobiles, is designed to protect occupants of the cab in rollovers, not blunt impacts.
- Amobi Inc., Amos, Quebec, displayed an adjustable driver’s seat, plus 12 models of adjustable air cushions, all with proper ergonomic support in mind.
Some of the seat cushions incorporate a vibration system made by Relaxor that has settings for pulse, wave and zigzag massage — and heating. Amobi said these features reduce the driver’s stress and leave him more comfortable and alert.
- Brakes, of course, are critical to truck safety. Allied Signal, Elyria, Ohio, exhibited a self-draining relay valve in its MC-12 antilock brake system for trailers. The design prevents brake line freeze-up without the need for alcohol injections, and that improves reliability and reduces maintenance, the company said.
- Maintenance costs can be lowered by eliminating unneeded filter changes, according to Engineered Products Co., maker of the Filter Minder monitor. The Filter Minder HVAC gauge is the company’s answer to truck builders that are placing filters in their heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems.
Filter Minders now on the market have switch-activated warning lights or computer signals that indicate when the flow through a filter has become too restricted.
- Lighting, especially trailer lamps, is a constant problem for fleets. Truck-Lite said 10% of new trailers being sold today have LED lights from light-emitting diodes. LEDs do not have to be replaced as often as conventional lighting, the company said, and that’s another factor in reducing maintenance costs.
- The biggest concentration of innovation for safety, driver comfort and vehicle accessories was probably found in the Department of Transportation’s ITS/CVO Technology truck, which showed off many of the intelligent vehicle systems that the federal government is urging truck operators to adopt.
DOT takes the Technology Truck from show to show and to association and civic meetings, enforcement and safety conferences and many other public forums where there is interest in the application of new technology trucking.
For that reason, the DOT trailer expands to form a 22-foot-wide display hall. At the SAE meeting, it showcased more than 80 products from 76 suppliers. Among them were an automatic tire inflator for trailers from P.S.I. Inc., San Antonio; automatic tracking mirrors from Ultra View Technologies, Newark, N.J.; Eaton Corp.’s Vorad collision warning system; the Sure-Shift automated transmission from Meritor Automotive, Troy, Mich.; and a road temperature warning system from Sprague Devices, Auburn Hills, Mich.
