APC Vision and Technology Roadmap for the Automotive Market-Defining Priority Research for Plastics in 21st Century Vehicles 2002-01-1890

The American Plastics Council (APC), working with the automotive industry, is leading the plastics industry in a groundbreaking effort to expand the future use of plastics in passenger vehicles. As part of this effort, APC has developed Plastics in Automotive Markets Vision and Technology Roadmap. This document is based in large part on a workshop held in May 2000 in Dearborn, Michigan, which was attended by representatives of plastics producers, OEMs, Tier suppliers, academia and government. The workshop was a collaborative effort with the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Transportation Technologies. During the workshop, participants identified many of the critical technologies needed to expand markets for automotive plastics. The APC Roadmap provides guidance to the automotive and plastics industries and their stakeholders as they pursue the research and development that is needed to create innovative materials and design approaches that meet demanding automotive performance criteria.