| CPC B62D 29/043 (2013.01) [B29C 45/14786 (2013.01); B29C 45/14811 (2013.01); B29C 70/465 (2013.01); B29C 70/506 (2013.01); B32B 3/04 (2013.01); B32B 3/12 (2013.01); B32B 3/28 (2013.01); B32B 5/02 (2013.01); B32B 27/08 (2013.01); B32B 37/06 (2013.01); B32B 37/10 (2013.01); B32B 38/1808 (2013.01); B32B 38/1858 (2013.01); B60R 21/04 (2013.01); B62D 63/04 (2013.01); B29C 51/02 (2013.01); B29C 70/345 (2013.01); B32B 5/12 (2013.01); B32B 2250/24 (2013.01); B32B 2260/021 (2013.01); B32B 2260/046 (2013.01); B32B 2305/076 (2013.01); B32B 2305/10 (2013.01); B32B 2307/56 (2013.01); B32B 2605/08 (2013.01)] | 23 Claims |

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1. A method of forming a shell of a crush countermeasure for a body-in-white (BIW) structural vehicle component, comprising:
forming a laminate by:
feeding a fiber structure and a resin to a heated belt laminator to form a layup, wherein the layup comprises alternating layers of the fiber structure and the resin, wherein fiber structure, for each one of the layers, is a unidirectional fibrous tape;
laying up the fiber structure such that, within the layup, fibers of the fiber structure within each one of the layers are oriented at a different angle than the fibers within at least an adjacent one of the layers; increasing a temperature and a pressure to flow the resin into the fiber structure to form the laminate; and
cooling the laminate to solidify the laminate; and
forming the laminate into a U-shape of the shell of the crush countermeasure such that the shell comprises two walls extending parallel to each other from a back and forming a shell channel, having a major axis extending between open ends of the shell channel, wherein the two walls extend continuously along the major axis, between the open ends of the shell channel; and
forming a ribbed or honeycomb shaped reinforcement along the shell channel with a chopped fiber reinforced polymer.
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