Technology Plan and Vehicle Validation Plan
What is validation in the automotive industry?
In the life cycle of a vehicle, technology and validation plan are vital to determine customer satisfaction. The goal of the validation testing is to test, and validate the vehicle meets engineering standards and specifications prior to the vehicle hitting the dealer showroom. This also helps to forecast the sales estimation based on several user attributes such as performance, interior, and exterior technology interfaces and styling, handling, safety features, and NVH levels.
Theoretical validation plan for a new vehicle:
This report summarizes the technology plan and validation plan that is to be conducted on the theoretical prototypes of the MY2026 Toyota Sequoia EV. For the validation plan, available prototypes would be used to gather expert and potential customer evaluation data. Potential customers and industry experts would be invited to perform the evaluation to make sure all our vehicles would be a huge success upon their official launch in August 2025. The demographic data would be collected which would include the age, gender, education, profession, income, and vehicle ownership details. participants would be asked to observe, drive the prototype and answer a checklist that recorded their experience with the vehicle in terms of ratings on a 10-point scale. Finally, a vehicle buy-off ride would also be strategically planned to test our vehicle in all types of road conditions, from small windy back roads to dirt roads, city driving, and interstate highways.
MAJOR CHANGES IN 2026 TOYOTA SEQUOIA EV
With the onset of improvements in battery technology and stricter emission and fuel economy norms, it is important that the MY 2026 Toyota Sequoia EV has key design changes that enable it to stay as one of the favorite SUVs across the USA in the future. Looking at the market trends, customer reviews, and competitor vehicles such as the Chevy Tahoe, and Ford Expedition the following major changes are planned in the MY2026 vehicle :
1. Full Electric EV: With a cultural shift to electrification and green energy, automotive companies are looking at how they can manufacture more environmentally conscious vehicles. As a result, instead of the conventional IC engine-powered drivetrain, the MY2026 will be equipped with a 150KW Electric Drive Module (EDM) with a BMS-governed Battery pack. The electric motor adds a total of 480lb-ft of torque to the vehicle and is powered using a 105 kWh battery pack capacity with a skateboard design where the platform holds the High voltage platform.
2. Increased Passenger and Cargo Volume: Based on the customer surveys carried out during P2, we learned that one of the major concerns from current owners was the lack of sufficient leg and shoulder rooms in our current generation vehicle. However, customers also do not want our vehicle to continue to grow since a large vehicle can become a hassle to deal with at times. By being meticulous with our vehicle integration for MY2026 we were able to maintain the exterior dimensions of our vehicle and improve the interior cargo volume and passengers packaging. Our MY2026 Toyota Sequoia has a noticeable improvement in the 3rd Row occupant leg and headroom without sacrificing any storage or cargo volume. With the removal of the front engine and introduction of a High Voltage Battery above the floor, we could introduce an extra space for storage in the front truck of the vehicle, also known as “Frunk”.
3. Active Suspension: A vehicle suspension system is a key part of determining overall vehicle comfort, by allowing each wheel to move vertically independently while constraining its movement in other directions to maintain stability and control. Vertical wheel movement from the datum position compresses the suspension system keeping the wheel movement within limits, although bump and rebound stops are encountered on the road. A suspension system is designed to keep all four wheels as nearly upright as possible at all times, not only when traveling across uneven surfaces but also when the body rolls during cornering. The suspension system must be able to interface with the body, so the mass of the vehicle is properly sprung. However, the body also must be designed to allow the integration of various vital components which limits our available packaging space. Per feedback received during our P2 project, the 2026 MY Toyota Sequoia, will focus on improving the suspension travel for a better ride and handling while not adversely impacting safety and durability. The customers’ voices let us know that the main requirement is to have a safe and durable suspension system. To make sure we meet our customer’s expectations, the MY2026 Toyota Sequoia will be equipped with an Adaptive front and rear suspension, which contains Magneto-Rheological (MR) Fluid as Damper fluid. The damping characteristics of MR fluids can be varied electronically, leading to optimizing suspension performance for any terrain at different speeds. Apart from better comfort, the adaptive suspension also reduces the possibility of rollover by adjusting suspension properties in high lateral acceleration situations.
4. Active Safety Systems: The MY 2026 vehicle will be equipped with Active Safety systems such as adaptive ABS, Collision Warning, and Drowsiness alerting systems for improved road safety. Apart from the active safety systems, 9 airbags will be incorporated in the MY2026 Sequoia, where the extra airbags will be added to protect rider knees.
5. Increased use of lightweight materials in chassis and BIW: The BIW and chassis of a vehicle are two of the main contributors to overall vehicle mass, accounting for around over 60% of vehicle mass. As a result, auto manufacturers are always looking at ways to reduce the overall mass of the body structure and chassis without jeopardizing the vehicles’ structural integrity or performance.
There are a few common methods used to reduce the overall vehicle mass. The first is by changing the part geometry of the component, for example adding lightning holes. However, this may lead to an increase in manufacturing or labor cost.
Another method commonly used to reduce mass is replacing a metal alloy with a higher-strength steel alloy, the increased strength of the material enables auto manufacturers to decrease the gauge of the component. Advances in technology have led to the creation of advanced high-strength steel, high-strength low alloy steel and ultra-high-strength steels etcetera. The benefit of incorporating these materials is they have excellent properties and considerable potential for improving a vehicle’s crash safety performance. If the main load-bearing components in the BIW are upgraded you could achieve your desired roof crush/side impact goal while also enabling a reduction in overall vehicle mass. However, substituting these materials could cause weldability issues if the gauge difference between the two mating parts is too large. Another potential weldability issue that could arise is high carbon steel and low-carbon steel have different melting temperatures which could complicate the welding process. Depending on the alloy that is used, the material cost of the substituted metal could also significantly increase the cost.
Finally, alternatively, auto manufacture can also cut mass by choosing a lighter weight, lower density, material. For example, switching from steel to aluminum would reduce the weight of a component. However, it is crucial to be cautious with the joining techniques that will be used, since certain materials cannot be welded together such as steel and aluminum. When switching materials, it is also of utmost importance that the structural integrity of the system is not diminished. Steel is a popular option in the automotive industry because of its relatively low cost, so by switching materials you will also increase the cost of the component you are manufacturing.
TECHNOLOGY PLAN
Implementing technological changes in the Toyota Sequoia MY 2026 is essential as it prepares the vehicle to be one of the market leaders in the SUV segment in the North American market. The changes in technology are based on the customer reviews of the 2019 model from its current owners. Technological changes in any system come along with its set of challenges, and making a technology plan helps us to assimilate the challenges faced during design, and find out ways to tackle them. Major parameters that affect the technology plan apart from customer needs are the business needs of the company and government regulations, especially regarding fuel economy and emissions. The table below discusses major changes planned for the MY 2025 vehicle, how they are accommodated in the design, and the key technical issues related to implementation :
CONCLUSIONS AND CHALLENGES OF THE TECHNOLOGY PLAN
The Vehicle concept was developed considering changes in major vehicle subsystems.
1. Changes in the powertrain subsystem and conversion from conventional ICE to battery EV mainly focus on the vehicle’s fuel economy as well as its power and torque outputs with the tailpipe emission norms being the top priority. Since all these changes are in accordance with the customer needs and future market trends, the major issues lie in ensuring that the implemented changes do not exceed the cost limit for the powertrain and the battery system.
2. The chassis system for the Toyota Sequoia 2019 exceeded its expectations in terms of safety, getting 5-star ratings, and hence the major focus for the chassis subsystem would be to accommodate the battery pack with the skateboard design and weight reduction without compromising the crashworthiness and strength of the structural members. By reducing the weight of the chassis system while maintaining the performance parameters such as strength, road noise, braking distance, etc. We would be able to meet the crash, emission, and weight standards set by regulatory bodies like EPA, CAFÉ, NHTSA, and FMVSS for this vehicle class. One of the ways to meet this goal would be to increase the use of advanced high-strength steels. However, this would require finding reliable suppliers for manufacturing and this would be a major parameter in determining the overall cost of the chassis system
3. The Safety System for the Toyota Sequoia MY2026 comes equipped with all the active safety systems in a wholesome safety suite that includes various features such as collision detection, blind spot detection, etc. Additionally, it also comes equipped with ABS having a dedicated off-road mode, for greater yaw stability in uneven terrains. Along with the polarized windshield proposed, the major challenge lies in sourcing reliable polarizing film material that is durable and will last throughout the life of the vehicle. This along with the integration of various safety systems without an unreasonable increase in cost must be achieved.
4. The Lighting System comes with major changes in headlight technology, such as the use of adaptive headlights and swiveling headlights. The major issue while implementing this would be to design swiveling headlights such that they are easy to maintain and do not need regular replacement, even in adverse snowy or dusty conditions.
5. The major technological issue in the packaging of the vehicle would be incorporating design changes for the mountings of the motor and battery pack at new positions along with the existing chassis and body design.
MY26 TOYOTA SEQUOIA VALIDATION PLAN
The validation plan for the MY26 Toyota Sequoia encompasses validation on the component, subsystem, and system assembly levels. Toyota has been always known for its dependability and MY26 Sequoia will be no exception. The validation activities will start once the targets are set on August 7th, 2023. The purpose of all this initial validation work is to ensure that all our assemblies down to the component level are performing as expected. As validation activities continue and we move up the systems engineering V model, we gain confidence in our design to build our first prototype vehicle. Our first prototype vehicle is scheduled to be completed on December 2nd, 2024, this will be our first true glimpse into the overall vehicle performance. These prototype vehicles will be used in our proving grounds by our validation and calibration engineers to fine-tune and solve issues at the system and vehicle levels. Once these prototype vehicles are deemed safe to drive on public roads, these vehicles will be taken on small one-day ride trips where various key experts will conduct validation activities on key areas of the vehicle. Once ready, vehicles will be cleaned and perfected to show during customer clinics to understand if the MY26 Sequoia will meet customer expectations. Our final validation milestone consists of a 4-day ride trip once the final prototypes have been completed on June 30th, 2025.
Listed in the table below is a detailed plan to validate all the key attributes of the program. With the exception of the “Customer Lifecycle,” all these validation activities will be completed before job #1 rolls off the assembly line.
4-Day Drive Test (final buy-off ride):
As part of our final validation activity, we are going to have a 4-day test drive with skilled engineers from different disciplines. The role of the engineers is to test every feature in the vehicle during this trip for functionality. During this trip, we will have 8 vehicles (5 saleable builds and 3 competitive) and 4 engineers per vehicle for a total of 32 engineers.
When: 1 Month before job#1 (Monday June 30th 2025 – Thursday July 3rd 2025)
From: Toyota North America Headquarters (Plano TX)
To: Toyota Research Center (Ann Arbor MI)
Engineering personnel breakdown:
- 4 from the program team (Program Engineering Manager, Assistant Program Engineering Managers)
- 1 Lead Design Engineer
- 3 Validation Engineers (1 Lead Validation Engineer, 2 Validation Engineers)
- 2 vehicle qualified managers
- 4 Infotainment software engineers
- 4 performance engineers
- 3 NVH engineers
- 2 Chassis engineers
- 4 Vehicle systems engineers
- 2 electrical engineers
- 3 manufacturing engineers (assembly plant representatives)
Engineers will rotate vehicles every 2 – 3 hours during each stop. They will also rotate between sitting positions to make sure they get the most well-rounded view of each vehicle. The three passengers in the vehicle are expected to review each vehicle using the engineering validation form shown on pages 17 – 18. Any issue found during the buy-off ride must be recorded and will be presented to the executive VP of quality of sign-off. If root cause analysis can be completed during the trip then it will be performed if no issues will be sent back to respective areas for immediate attention.
Our final buy-off ride will be a 4-day drive test from Toyota NA HQ in Plano TX to Toyota Research Center in Ann Arbor MI. During this buy-off ride we plan to take 5 saleable builds one for each of the trim levels we will offer ( SR5 (Base), TRD Sport, Limited, TRD Pro, and Platinum). We will also take 3 competitive vehicles from our competitive set to compare to our MY26 Sequoia (Chevy Tahoe, Ford Expedition, and Nissan Armada).
The buy-off ride has been strategically planned to test our vehicle in all types of road conditions, from small windy back roads to dirt roads, city driving, and interstate highways. We have also planned this trip in areas where there is very poor reception or no reception to be able to really test our in-car infotainment such as in-car wifi, XM Radio, and navigation. See a map of the full route below.
To ensure the safety of our engineers, each day the engineers will be driving no more than 320 miles a day. The reason for this is to ensure that each day the vehicle can leave its starting point and make it to its destination on a single charge. Each day engineers will be driving for roughly about 5hr and are expected to stop 2 -3 times for rotations to reduce fatigue. The drive of the vehicle is expected to test the performance of the vehicle and operate the vehicle to stress the vehicle. All driving activities must be safe and not put the driver or any of the passengers in harm. If issues arise during the road trip the driver is expected to pull over safely and call the Toyota hotline for assistance in towing vehicles back to either Toyota HQ or the Research center. Drivers must not take our prototype vehicles to any Toyota dealership. The passengers inside of the vehicle are expected to exhaust and utilize as many features of the vehicle as possible to find any potential quality or engineering-related issues. The 4-day breakdown is shown below in the following pages.
Day 1:Toyota North America Headquarters (Plano TX) to Rockwell AK
Day 2: Rockwell AK to Sikeston MO
Day 3: Sikeston MO to Bloomington IN
Day 4: Bloomington IN to Toyota Research Center (Ann Arbor MI)
The validation plan could be improved by allowing additional time for all the validation activities. One of the ways this could be done is by pushing our target set date forward. Another way to do this is by incorporating more virtual tools such as CAE and CFD. This would allow us to reduce the component-assembly validation time. As a result, we could increase the time we can validate our prototype vehicles, which provides great insight into what our vehicles will actually be like. Another way to improve our validation activities would be by fabricating more prototype vehicles however this would require a significant capital investment. As soon as a prototype vehicle is built performance, calibration, validation, quality, and safety engineers are always fighting to get their hands on them. By fabricating more prototypes we would reduce the wait time and thus increase the number of activities that could be done simultaneously. Another benefit of having more prototypes if we increase the amount of build variation, which would shine a light to harder to diagnose/ not as-common issues. These issues tend to negatively affect our warranty targets so if we could reduce the number of these issues before we start mass producing our vehicle on August 4th, 2025, it would significantly reduce our upfront warranty cost.
EVALUATION FORMS AND RESULTS
An evaluation form was put together for the validation engineers to evaluate the primary attributes of the vehicle. The form had each of its categories divided into topics, subtopics, and sub-topics for evaluation graded on a 1-10 scale, with 1 generally being the worst rating and 10 generally being the best, with the one exception being the height of the rocker, which is evaluated based on how high the rocker is with 1 being too low, 10 being too high, and 5 being at exactly the right height. The engineers are asked to evaluate the vehicle on each sub-subtopic using this scale.
The engineers will evaluate the vehicle and their results for each of the sub-subtopics will be collected, tallied, and averaged to determine the general consensus on the engineers’ thoughts on the vehicle as a whole. It might be key to note that we are not necessarily aiming for the best in class in every attribute. Nonetheless, the closer the average values recorded to the ideal values stated above generally denotes better satisfaction from the engineers. These values can be visualized using a bar chart, as seen below.
Likewise, a similar evaluation form was prepared for the customers. This form was simpler than the one for the engineers, simply dividing the categories into just topics and subtopics, with the customers being asked to evaluate the vehicle on each subtopic. Once again, all categories evaluated are graded on a 1 to 10 scale, with 1 being the worst rating and 10 being the best in all subtopics.
Likewise, the customer results will be collected and averaged, with the only real metric of performance in each subtopic being how close the values were to 10. We hope to achieve a broad range of demographics in our customer survey, similar to what we had in P-2.
REFERENCES
- Automotive Product Development: A Systems Engineering Implementation, by Vivek D. Bhise. ISBN: 978-1-4987-0681-0. Publisher: CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2017. (APD)
