Why Use Plastics?

In the 1970’s, the oil producing countries of OPEC decided to raise the price of oil since they had 90% of the world’s market share, believing they had a monopoly on oil. During this time, car manufacturers became concerned with building more fuel efficient cars. Reducing the weight of a car is an effective way to improve fuel efficiency. The implementation of polymers for use in automobiles made cars lighter.

Also, Japanese competition in the automobile industry spurred an interest to find more durable, cost-effective materials in order to make more reliable cars. American automobile manufacturers needed to research and develop the usefulness of alternative materials to stay competitive.

Plastics can compete with other materials in automotive applications due to several benefits:

Weight Savings – Plastics are significantly lighter than metals.

Design Flexibility – Plastics are more expensive than metals as a material, but the cost reduction comes in the "tooling" costs or the work put into assembling the parts once they are made. Since the tooling costs of plastics is cheaper than metals, the capital investment in building the assembly line for a plastic car is cheaper than for a metal car. The design of the body and other aesthetic pieces of a car can be changed more frequently, putting newer designs in the market. This feature will help American automobile sales since the United States is generally an affluent country, and people want a car that distinguishes them from others.

Parts Consolidation - One plastic part usually replaces the function of several metal pieces. Plastic parts can be molded into intricate pieces using injection or blow molding that can be difficult or expensive to assemble using metal

Ease of Fabrication - The ease of fabrication is related to parts consolidation. The less steps needed to assemble the car, the cheaper the production costs and the more cars a company can make in a short amount of time.