on September 29, 1993, President Clinton and the Chief Executive Officers of the major domestic automakers (Chrysler Corporation, Ford Motor Company, and General Motors Corporation) announced the formation of the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV). The long-term goal of PNGV is to develop vehicles that will deliver up to three times today's fuel efficiency (80 miles per gallon or BTU equivalent) and cost no more to own and operate than today's comparable vehicles. At the same time, this new generation of vehicles should maintain the size, utility and performance standards of today's vehicles (i.e., the 1994 Chrysler Concorde, Ford Taurus, and Chevrolet Lumina) and meet all mandated safety and emission requirements [1,2]. As part of the PNGV program, The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) intends on developing a vehicle finite element model representing each vehicle class and size. These FE models will be used in compatibility studies to ensure that PNGV vehicles meet safety standards and that crashworthiness and crash avoidance attributes are not compromised by their lightweight and use of advanced materials.