The textile industry is increasingly becoming a strong supplier for automobile manufacturers. Industrial textiles are widely used in transportation vehicles and systems including cars, trains, buses, airplanes and marine vehicles. The term automobile textile covers all type of textile components e.g. fibers, filaments, yarns and the fabric used in automobiles.

Automotive textiles are used widely, from light weight vehicles to heavy duty trucks. Nearly two-thirds of automobile textiles are for interior trims, i.e. seat covers, carpets and roof and door liners. The rest is utilised to reinforce tires, hoses, safety belts, air bags etc.

Lightweight components can strengthen a car’s safety features. A textile layer can be positioned between layers of a car’s bonnet, producing a damping effect in the event of a collision. Integration of micro-electronic components into the fibers will determine future developments in the textile sector. This could help improve comfort and acoustics features significantly as well as help regulate more efficiently the temperature inside of a car.

The use of textiles on a large scale has become more evident in the past years, as fiber-based materials are now also being adopted as lightweight solutions. A number of cars have a body made of this material.