Abstract: The present invention is a method for preparing and chroming a blank of steel. This method reduces time and cost to the assembly process. The method includes the following steps: heating steel slabs to a pre-determined temperature, hot rolling the steel slabs to a pre-determined width/thickness; spraying the steel strips with water to remove scaling; pickling the steel strips in acid to remove scaling; rinsing and drying the strips; cold rolling the strips with an electron beam textured tandem mill into strips having a pre-determined thickness; cold rolling the strips with an electron beam temper mill; and stamping the steel strips into a bumper.

Abstract: A system for controlling automatic transmission downshift points includes a control computer for electronically controlling an internal combustion engine and a transmission having at least one automatically selectable gear. The control computer is responsive to at least a throttle signal, provided by either a manually actuatable accelerator pedal or a cruise control system, to compute an engine load value, and is further responsive to either an engine speed signal or a vehicle speed signal to compute a deceleration value. The control computer is operable to compute a downshift engine RPM value based on the deceleration value and either the throttle signal or the engine load value, wherein the downshift engine RPM value is lower than a default downshift engine RPM if the deceleration value indicates a relatively slow deceleration rate and the throttle signal or the engine load value indicates high throttle or engine load.