The aerodynamic effects of the pickup truck tailgate are examined in this paper. It is shown that the removal or the lowering of the tailgate increases the aerodynamic drag of a pickup truck, increases lift by up to sixty percent and increases the yawing moment. All these changes are negative and reduce vehicle performance, albeit, only by small amounts. This finding demonstrates that the commonly seen removal of tailgates to reduce aerodynamic drag is a public misconception that should be discouraged by manufacturers and by regulators.


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    Title :

    Pickup Truck Aerodynamics - Keep Your Tailgate Up


    Additional title:

    Sae Technical Papers


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    SAE 2004 World Congress & Exhibition ; 2004



    Publication date :

    2004-03-08




    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Print


    Language :

    English




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