Abstract
Automobile trunk latches enable trunks to be opened and closed by a latch mechanism, which can be selectively positioned between a locked condition and an open condition. To maintain structural and electronic performance of the trunk latch, the latch needs to endure impact load that occurs in its open and close motion, and a dynamic mechanism needs to be electronically controled by a contact switch connected with a small DC motor. A base plate, which is the most important component relating to the structural safety, commonly uses a high stiffness material SAPH440-P with high manufacturing cost. In this paper, through structural analysis and optimization, production cost is significantly reduced by replacing SAPH440-P used in some region of the base plate with engineering plastic PBT GF 20%. The optimized contact switch reduces difference between distributed pressures of its two legs, which leads to improve the electronic performance of the trunk latch.