Environmental and economic performance of a car component: assessing new materials, processes and designs

The main objective of the present study is to evaluate the life cycle environmental and economic performance of three different car multimedia solution chassis (CMSC), comparing alternative designs (polymer solution and metal solution without screws). A Life Cycle Assessment/Life Cycle Costing (LCA/LCC) integrated analysis was used to assess and pinpoint their relative advantages (win-win, lose-lose or trade-off environmental and economic situations), and, therefore, help to identify hotspots and guide the development of new design strategies. The new designs, with lower weight and fewer parts, allow environmental and economic advantages. Other advantages are the assembly line simplification and the reduction of metal husks, minimizing the risk of malfunction of electric components, due to the decreased number of parts and screws. The present work illustrates that environmental and economical, and not only technological, perspectives should be considered in sustainable product development. The selected case studies demonstrate that it is possible to minimize the environmental impacts and cost of a product through adequate materials selection and design considerations at the development stage.