Quasi-Static Finite Element Analysis (FEA) of an Automobile Seat Latch Using LS-DYNA

In the present automotive industry, all suppliers and OEMs are focusing on designing, developing and manufacturing products and automobiles with higher quality, lower cost and faster delivery to the customers. The automobile industry has placed a significant amount of efforts including time and funding into developing products that can meet these challenges. This is probably one reason that in recent years Finite Element Analysis (FEA) has been widely used and become a mainstream design and developing process in automotive industry. This is especially true in the Noise, Vibration, Harshness (NVH) and safety fields. This paper presents a project of Fisher Dynamics in the system level Quasi-static FEA using LS-DYNA effectively directed the design of an automotive seat latch to meet the stringent high load requirements. The analysis successfully predicted the results of physical tests including the ultimate load. Hence the company was able to deliver a design in conformance with the specifications of the customer on time.