The Honda Fit body architecture is designed to offer an active and smart appearance that is aerodynamically sleek, highly rigid and designed for enhanced levels of safety performance. The use of high-tensile strength steel and tailor welded blank construction allows the body to be relatively lightweight and maintain a high level of structural rigidity that benefits vehicle handling and safety performance.
High tensile strength steel is used in large portions of the frame on the body of the Fit to form a solid cage around the engine bay and the interior cabin. This frame in the body of the Fit incorporates high tensile strength steel along the front side arched frame, rocker panel, A-pillar and B-pillar to provide a highly rigid foundation. In total, 36% of Fit total body weight is from high-tensile strength steel.
Tailor-welded blanks are steel sheets of different thickness and grades laser welded into a single flat blank prior to pressing to achieve the optimal material arrangement and weight reduction for cars, and to increase process efficiency and machine flexibility. These blanks are used on the body of the Fit in forming the foundation of the firewall between the engine bay and the passenger cabin and also help support the structural rigidity of the frame's A-pillar.
Unique to any vehicle in the subcompact class, the centrally-mounted fuel tank in the body of the Fit achieving a large interior space. The fuel tank on the Fit is located directly behind the front seats in the middle of the vehicle. This allows the floor in the rear of Fit to be lowered which increases the useable area behind the front seats.
The Honda Fit body is also designed with front doors that are allowed to be opened nearly 80 degrees to allow for easy entry and exit from the vehicle. These doors also have three distinct detents to hold the doors open at various degrees.
Fit Body features include:
- high-tensile strength steel
- tailor welded blank construction
- centrally-mounted fuel tank in the body
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