Design of Aftermarket Automotive Parts

The aftermarket customisation of four-wheel trucks in the United States is a growing market, which Guild Outfitters has managed to get a strong foothold in. They are a reseller of a variety of product and produce their own range of cabin switchboards and recently started selling replacement key fobs.

The initial contact with Guild Outfitters was for a reverse-engineering project of the existing cabin switch panel for a Toyota Tacoma truck, from there I was tasked to modify the switch board in a way that would allow for OEM switches to stay compatible, but also accept propriety blanks and the option to include various other aftermarket products. The result of this work package was a range of switch panels which are currently 3D-printed, using HP’s MJF machinery. While these are being sold successfully, we are now working on making the designs suitable for injection moulding. Two of the switch panels are now in Guild Outfitters Top 5 of best selling products.

Further, I was asked to redesign the standard Toyota Tacoma key fob shell. Together with the owner, we worked on concept sketches and took these through prototyping and DFM for injection moulding. Currently, 3D-printed versions are sold to investigate market interest, before committing to tooling.

Another product line, which is currently in development, is for underbody skid plates. These sheet metal parts will replace the OEM plastic parts and offer protection while being aesthetically pleasing.