Why so many rounded corners on the TE?

[NeilBlanchard]

The 3rd generation Prius has the crisp corners on the sides, too.

[orangustang]

When I thought of crisp corners on the sides, I immediately jumped to the new Impreza.
Upon closer inspection, it seems like Subaru used a fair combination of trip ridges and rounded edges. It seems they wanted to trip the air as much as possible without making the styling awkward, so they compromised and rounded the bottom of the bumper to continue that lower body line in the doors. This area probably doesn't matter much anyway, since it gets the turbulent air off of the rear wheels. It seems also that they tapered the body around the hatch, then tripped it at the end, which strikes me as ideal.

[jakobnev]

I spotted those lists that go down the glass in the rear corners of the Toyota Iq a few days ago. I think they are for cleaner separation. (the bumper got some of that too)

[gone-ot]

Originally Posted by dcb

P.S. I thought Karman Vortex Street surely had a typo

FWIW -- the above also illustrates *how* Weather disturbances are created and propogated.

[AeroModder]

Since I got a job at a car wash, I'm able to see all kinds of cars up close. One trend I'm noticing is the sharp corners on rooflines, when I've heard that rounded rooflines were better. But there is a far greater trend toward sharper corners on the backs of new cars, especially in more hidden areas.

[kach22i]

An older post: You can see the crisp line or edge, does not have to be a straight line.


http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...t-20321-2.html

Originally Posted by kach22i

I've always imagined an ellipse being drawn in at the rear. The car looks good from an aerodynamic viewpoint in my opinion.

Automobile 2 - Odds and Ends pictures by kach22i - Photobucket

[Rokeby]

The Volt has the sharp edges aft too:



Note they extend all the way down to the lower edge of the body work,
unlike the majority of such treatments.
I would think doing so creates an opportunity for more dings and minor
crumples in low speed, contact at the corners, parking lot type contacts.