ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the tasks that need to be performed and the relationships that must be met between customer needs, vehicle attributes, vehicle functions, and system design details. The vehicle design generally begins with the overall vehicle specifications and allocation of the vehicle functions to different vehicle systems, creating the configuration and allocating space for each of the systems within the overall vehicle envelope. A new vehicle program begins with the desire and direction of the higher management of the company to develop a new vehicle. The vehicle specifications involve identifying the major vehicle parameters and assigning target values to the identified parameters. For a vehicle to possess the stated attributes, it must meet the requirements for each of the vehicle attributes. All vehicle attribute requirements must be cascaded to all vehicle systems. System design specifications must be created for each vehicle system.
