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GMT 360 Design Finite analysis / simulation video

8K views 22 replies 13 participants last post by  07_TB_RIDER 
#1 ·
GM Truck engineering produced the video in the attached link for the media back in 2001. It shows among other things the use of math based engineering development tools in developing the GMT 360. Note the Finite element analysis used for designing the entire vehicle structure and crash simulation processes. A first. The use of "all belts to seats" was one of the benefits of this work (Just try to purchase a vehicle with this feature today....too expensive for the average Joe vehicle now but we put them in because it was the right thing to do)

I owe my working future and career to the engineering skills I developed during the years from 2000 through 2005 at GM truck engineering. Seeing this video warmed my heart on GM Bankruptcy day!

Heres the link GMT 360 fans....enjoy it was developed in the finest hour for GM Truck:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1847322232?bclid=0&bctid=1740017309
 
#4 ·
Enjoy. It was developed in the finest hour for GM Truck.
So true. The right vehicle with the right size and the right design at the right time. The world is now changed, but there are still many of us out there that think this design may still be the right design for years to come.

How many other vehicles are there out there that can inspire so much passion in their owners?

Every single person at GM who helped design or build this vehicle should be proud of the finest days of GM, and if these are the people who still make up GM, there is a lot of hope for the future.
 
#5 ·
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Well said. But unfortunately C_hawk, the Director of Global Vehicle engineering Jim "Alfalfa" Queen has finally actually achieved the promise he made to a group of Harvard Recruits in 2003 = That "I will tear this company apart" what he ment by this was he intended to get rid of the trucks and the management and the people who designed them...all except for GMT 900. That he knew he could not touch, as his boys knew nothing about trucks. He "knew" he could sell "Carucks" like the POC Acadia to the fools that crave them though. Here Jim is shaking hands with Govenor Granholm after securing more Michigan Taxpayer money for HIS hand picked Cadillac division boys for another of their low volume halo waste of time vehicles.

He systematicly eliminated nearly all the engineers and managers that designed the GMT 360/70. Then he took his genius managers that had been responsible for the Grand AM , Impala, and Cavaller and put them in charge of GM Truck engineering. Then he disbanded GM truck engineering and merged it with North American Car engineering

He shut down the GMT 360 program and the Moraine assembly plant when 180Trailblazers/Envoys were being sold every day. Yes this is the guy who did this so the Trailblazers/Envoys wouldn't siphon off sales from HIS Acadia, Enclave, Outlook POC babies.

Yes this weasel is still working at GM as director of global vehicle engineering sucking off the 30 + Billion that we are paying to keep GM above water. But hopefully not for much longer. Fritz Henderson is not one of his supporters and with Tom Stephens as VP of Global product development he should be a goner soon.

Too late to save our babies, but we can still enjoy them and stay out of the new vehicle market until they disintegrate!

BTW I was face to face with this weasel in the Northwest World perks lounge in Detroit Airport after I returned from Europe last month. There he was in his Hawaiian shirt getting ready for a nice memorial weekend in palm springs. I wanted to go over to him and congratulate him for destroying GM, but I thought better of it. I am too old for public confrontations, and I dont want to lose my NWA world perks membership over Alfie :)
 
#7 ·
Right on, brother.

I applaud everyone who helped design and build this platform; from the engineers who designed in some great (and maybe a couple of not-so-great) features to the guy on the line who screws on the lug nuts.

I don't include the useless upper and middle management folks who only seek to tear apart or destroy all the love of owning and driving modern vehicles.
 
#8 ·
Great video, but I must say that their airflow simulations somehow completely missed the mark on wind noise. Maybe some old-fashioned engineering should have gone into the designing of the door seals, all of which--as many of us have posted--seem to rub, leak, and squeak.

Also, I think I get the belt-at-ever-seat concept, but the outboard rear seats have pillar-mounted belts. Is this something they changed?
 
#9 · (Edited)
You know I guess you are right, never thought about the rear seat. I am in the UK now so I dont have my truck...just a Mercedes E class to tool around in LOL....SO is the center rear seat all belts to seat?

The sled test that I reviewed back in 1999 at Lear seating was 2 dummys seated in the front. One test had a b pillar mounted shoulder harness the other "all belts to seat" I left that test educated on what happens to an occupant in a 40 mph barrier crash in with the occupants "inposition" without all belts to seat. The skeleton experiences enough torsion to break the pelvis...all due to that the small distance and angle the belt makes to the body to mate to that swivel bar on the b pillar and the shoulder harness not fitting snugly AROUND the shoulder.

Now thats with the occupant "In position" Imagine what happens in that crash when the occupant is reaching into the back seat to quiet the kids or slumped down sleeping...not pretty. After watching the test I dont sleep well in vehicles when my wife is driving!

I guess the rear occupants are not really in the crush zone and that might be the reason. I will check my archives and see what I can find. Anyways some of the best safety engineers in the world worked on that platform in the late 1990's. I will take my truck in a crash over anything GM currently makes besides a Full Size SUV like a GMT 900 Suburban (which a great safety team still works on) or maybe I would take the crash in a Mercedes!!!! :^)
 
#10 ·
commissionaire

Great video clip! However, in the video clip they talked about how they conducted tests on body noise and rattles. I think they mist the boat that day or the math models were poorly formulated for whatever reason these vehicles are plaque with interior trim rattles and door wind noises.
 
#11 ·
Great video clip! However, in the video clip they talked about how they conducted tests on body noise and rattles. I think they mist the boat that day or the math models were poorly formulated for whatever reason these vehicles are plaque with interior trim rattles and door wind noises.
personally I think that has more to do with materials than engineering. Even if they had the shape and mold right.. if the plastic is cheap, its gonna rattle. just my :m2:
 
#15 · (Edited)
:sadcry::cry::sadcry:

I really wish that when GM gets back on their feet, that they would bring back the GMT 360 program. Hopefully they can see what good trucks they are and maybe improve them so they can be even more appealing. "Higher MPG, lose the cheap plastic..ect" I think I would be one of the first in line to get one. But for the time being, I'm going to enjoy my TB until the day that she just quits on me :(
 
#16 ·
I really think that GM will bounce back better and stronger now... but unfortunately I dont see the platform comming back :sadcry:
And even if it did, I read an article that suggested that Chevy will no longer build Trucks and Suv's... So it would only be the Envoy, no TB. Not sure how much truth there is to that, but makes sense, keep GMC to build the trucks and Chevy builds the cars...
 
#17 ·
How about the other way around and GMC the cars and Chevy the trucks.:coffee But I agree I think GM as a whole will be much stronger and steamlined than before.
 
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