Disassemblability of end-of-life vehicle: a critical review of evaluation methods

Environmental sustainability has become the main items of contest in the automotive industries. Therefore in the order to reduce the environmental impact of end-of-life vehicles, European Union, Japan, USA, and Australia laws require manufacturers to take back their products at the end of their useful life and recycle them. In order to enhance the recycling rate of the vehicle, disassemblability of the automotive components has been a major concern. In the chain of end-of-life, except for landfill and incineration, components of economic value destined for reuse, remanufacture, or recycling have first to be disassembled from the end-of-life vehicles. There are several efforts within the academic community to rationalise design for disassembly and recycling, and several attempts by industry to study these issues in the context of specific products. Recent publications offer a broad perspective on recyclability and disassemblability. It is therefore necessary to determine the optimal stage of disassembly, when all economically valuable components are retrieved. This paper presents a review of several disassemblability methods, including spread sheet-like chart, end-of-life value and time for disassembly. The review concludes on the need for an effective disassembly method in order to enhance the recovery of products. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.