Brake Pedals
for the Corvette Sports Car
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- The Application -- The Chevrolet Corvette is a world-class sports car with outstanding road
performance and unique styling. In designing the Corvette, General Motors engineers had
the mandate to develop a vehicle design that communicated unrivaled performance and style,
while reducing weight for fuel efficiency and acceleration.
- One component of the interior design is the brake pedal.
The brake pedal was originally designed as a welded steel assembly that was heavy and
required finish treatments for appearance.
- Component Description -- The brake pedal in the Corvette is designed as a offset
bar approximately 15" long with an integral foot pad (with four slots on the face) on
one end of the pedal bar. The opposite end of the bar has a perpendicular pivot cylinder
for mounting and rotation. On the under side of the bar there is a pocket in which the
brake actuator rod sits with a pivot pin.
- Functionally, the brake pedal has to be a high
strength component (35 ksi tensile strength and 25 ksi yield strength) with high ductility
(7%). The appearance of the foot pad and the visible section of the pedal bar should
integrate with the overall interior design.
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