Magna's PACE Award-winning door latch

December 10, 2018 12:00 AM

Magna's engineers were looking for styling improvements when they began rethinking door latches. And they kept asking, "What if?"

The result was the SmartLatch, the first fully electronic side-door latch on the market and a PACE Award winner in 2016.

SmartLatch replaced all mechanical latch system components with smaller, lighter wire-harness elements and push-buttons.

A single electronic control unit handled passive entry, an exterior keypad, the door’s LED lighting and soft-close automatic door cinching — features that previously required several ECUs.

Winner's box

To commemorate 25 years of PACE Awards for supplier innovation, Automotive News is looking back at one of the many winners.

2016: Magna Closures

Trade name: SmartLatch

Innovation: Electronic side-door latch eliminated complexity, weight and cost.

Why it resonated: Technology, improved safety and aesthetics appealed to automakers and consumers.

If the car lost power, supercapacitors provided backup electricity to let motorists open the doors. With fewer components, SmartLatch doors could be thinner and lighter.

The doors also automatically unlocked seconds after a crash.

There were aesthetic gains, too. Locking noises were eliminated to produce a quiet and smooth operation inside and out.

Total benefits included weight savings of up to 11 percent from standard latches, cost savings of up to 8 percent, improved safety, a reduced number of components to manage, sound quality improvement and the flexibility to be used in any type of car.