MASS REDUCTION OF AUTOMATIC CAR TRANSMISSIONS THROUGH LIGHTWEIGHT ENGINEERING

Modern vehicle weights grow with each model due to rising performance and comfort requirements. Car manufacturers have to increase investments to keep vehicle weights low. Suppliers of transmission systems are also faced with these weight reduction challenges. New developments of automatic transmissions open the possibility of potentials in optimized systems and components to reduce weight. The new development of a 6-speed automatic transmission for rear-wheel drive and a belt driven CVT for front-wheel drive are examples for weight reduction. The new 6-speed 6HP26 automatic version contributes to a weight benefit of about 14% as compared to the previous 5-speed version. The infinitely variable CFT23 transmission is about 14% lighter than the 5-speed transverse front-wheel drive model currently available on the market. This means that the new ZF 6-speed automatics and the CVT not only contribute to stopping the weight spiral but even to reversing it. As a result the transmission weight levels of 4-speed automatics in the 70s and 80s can be reached with these new transmissions. For the covering abstract see ITRD E120563.