Molded Parts Replace New Car Paint and Steel

The Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) Automotive Division has announced the nominees for its 55th Annual Automotive Innovation Awards program, which was established in 1970 and is the oldest and largest recognition event in the automotive and plastics industries. The announcement was made on the evening of November 4, 2026, at the SPE Automotive Innovation Awards Ceremony.

The winner in the Body Exterior category—the thermoplastic truck bed previously featured in Plastics Today—also received this year’s Grand Award. A blue-ribbon panel of industry experts selected the Grand Award winner from the winners of each of the eight subcategories. The winner in the Sustainability category, an application using carbon-captured polyoxymethylene (POM) in a fuel pump module subassembly, was detailed in a previous article, as was the winner in the Electric and Autonomous Vehicle Systems category, a cosmetic and structural glass-mat thermoplastic (GMT) frunk. Here, the winners in the Body Exterior and Materials categories are recognized.

Physical Appearance Winner

The structural console bracket used in the 2027 general-purpose Bolt EV ranks first in its award category. Provided by US Farathane, this single-shot, injection-molded bracket replaces a three-piece welded steel assembly, serving as a structural bridge between the front and rear sections of the two-piece floor console. The bracket connects these two sections to the underbody structure, controlling cross-vehicle sway, cupholder wobble, and rattles while withstanding a 900 N abuse load.

The optimized rib structure, developed by the University of Pennsylvania in Washington and composed of 25% glass fiber, 15% mineral-filled polypropylene (PP) homopolymer, and 60% recycled content, increased the console’s modal frequency from 26.5 Hz to 27.37 Hz. The unit cost decreased by 83%, and the mass was reduced by approximately 45.6%, from 520.5 grams to 282.0 grams. Delta Tooling also compressed the mold delivery time from 36 weeks to 12 weeks, and its design eliminated multi-point welding, thereby completely removing the risk associated with weld quality.

A single-piece bracket injection-molded from recycled PP replaces a three-piece welded steel assembly. Image courtesy of Ford.

Unpainted piano black finish

For Ford, the first pre-colored, unfilled polyamide (PA) 6 compound for the 2026 Everest provides a high-gloss piano black finish on the door handle bezels—without the need for painting or rapid heat-and-cool tooling. BASF supplied Ultramid D3K R01 BK 23361 PA, which was injection molded by Supavut Industry in Thailand.

Previous paint-free methods required specialized molds and presses. This time, Xin Guang Plastic Industrial Sdn. Bhd. in Malaysia provided standard injection molding molds and presses, reproducing mirror-polished cavities through wall-thickness flow conductors. These flow channels position weld lines in nearly invisible locations, while the gating system is designed for maximum cavity pressure, eliminating flash along parting lines.

The additives also provide scratch resistance, durability, and UV protection for the four baffles in high-contact areas of each vehicle. Replacing painted ABS resin eliminates paint racks, paint waste, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), while single-material components simplify end-of-life recycling.