Advances in technology and product innovations are changing the global automotive
instrument panel market.
All-TPO
Instrument Panel is a First for GM North America
The
instrument panels are large and clear and the steering wheel is thick and sporty.
The large-format multifunctional
instrument panel is covered with a thin light-transmitting sheet made of Marnot XL GU 90 polycarbonate.
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Instrument panels provide operational features, diagnostics and monitoring
The glare shield keeps sunlight off the cockpit
instrument panel and it's not very sturdy.
Light colors are said to be a major trend for car interiors, particularly for many plastics used for the
instrument panel, central console or door panels, for example.
Driven by increasingly stringent quality requirements, most Japanese carmakers have brought
instrument panel production in-house.
Intermet Corp., Troy, Michigan, has begun production of a new diecast
instrument panel beam and was granted significant new
instrument panel business for two General Motors luxury-class light vehicles.
PolyOne Engineered Films Group (formerly Geon Engineered Films) announces that it has begun production of the "first U.S.-produced calendered TPO [thermoplastic olefin] bilaminate to be used as an
instrument panel covering for a North American production vehicle."
This multifunctional use of plastic parts cuts the cost of production when compared to making only the
instrument panel from plastic.