The Honda Odyssey makes innovative use of advanced high-strength steels (AHSS) to increase passenger safety and improve fuel efficiency

In North America, people carriers, or minivans, are big business, as they are in many other global regions. The sheer family-friendly practicality of the minivan has ensured its enduring popularity in the US – and one of the most popular models of all is the highly-rated Honda Odyssey.

Considered the market-leading three-row minivan in the US and Canada, this fifth generation model was fully developed in North America by the Honda R&D Americas, Inc. development team. The project was based at the Ohio R&D centre, the company’s largest such site outside of Japan. This is where the development leadership team were located, and where engineering development was conducted. Both the Odyssey concept and its exterior and interior design, however, were conceived at the Honda R&D Americas Los Angeles Studio.

“The latest Odyssey… was a high watermark for maximising steel part, joint and joining, and load path efficiency.”

Peter Cardimen is performance development leader for the fifth-generation Honda Odyssey. The vehicle, he explains, is based on the Honda global light truck platform, and utilises their latest-generation Advanced Compatibility Engineering (ACE) body structure. This helps optimise passive safety even in collisions with much larger, heavier American-sized pickup trucks. It is also a unibody design – where the frame, floor-plan and chassis are formed as a single structure – which aids quality and durability.

“From a body perspective, we knew going into the development that we would need to use more high strength steel for both performance and weight reduction,” explains Cardimen, “and to push our design engineers to maximise the weight-down and performance-up of every part and load path.”

Cardimen is certain about the key role advanced steel engineering played in the project. “If I were to state plainly what the key technology or material development was behind the latest Odyssey, it was a high watermark for maximising steel part joint and joining, and load path efficiency. We brought an incredible amount of development attention to every part and path, and all our latest simulation capability for global body validation of these incremental gains.”

The Honda Odyssey makes innovative use of advanced high-strength steels (AHSS) to increase passenger safety and improve fuel efficiency

In North America, people carriers, or minivans, are big business, as they are in many other global regions. The sheer family-friendly practicality of the minivan has ensured its enduring popularity in the US – and one of the most popular models of all is the highly-rated Honda Odyssey.

Considered the market-leading three-row minivan in the US and Canada, this fifth generation model was fully developed in North America by the Honda R&D Americas, Inc. development team. The project was based at the Ohio R&D centre, the company’s largest such site outside of Japan. This is where the development leadership team were located, and where engineering development was conducted. Both the Odyssey concept and its exterior and interior design, however, were conceived at the Honda R&D Americas Los Angeles Studio.

“The latest Odyssey… was a high watermark for maximising steel part, joint and joining, and load path efficiency.”

Peter Cardimen is performance development leader for the fifth-generation Honda Odyssey. The vehicle, he explains, is based on the Honda global light truck platform, and utilises their latest-generation Advanced Compatibility Engineering (ACE) body structure. This helps optimise passive safety even in collisions with much larger, heavier American-sized pickup trucks. It is also a unibody design – where the frame, floor-plan and chassis are formed as a single structure – which aids quality and durability.

“From a body perspective, we knew going into the development that we would need to use more high strength steel for both performance and weight reduction,” explains Cardimen, “and to push our design engineers to maximise the weight-down and performance-up of every part and load path.”

Cardimen is certain about the key role advanced steel engineering played in the project. “If I were to state plainly what the key technology or material development was behind the latest Odyssey, it was a high watermark for maximising steel part joint and joining, and load path efficiency. We brought an incredible amount of development attention to every part and path, and all our latest simulation capability for global body validation of these incremental gains.