Honda Car Forum

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Overview

The Fit's body architecture is designed to offer an active and smart
appearance that is aerodynamically sleek, highly rigid and designed for enhanced
levels of safety performance. The use of high-tensile strength steel in 36%
of Fit's body and exclusive tailor welded blank construction allows the
Fit to be relatively lightweight and maintain a high level of structural rigidity
that benefits vehicle handling and safety performance. Engineers have designed
Fit to achieve a 5-star NHTSA frontal crash test rating and "Good"
ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) in both the offset
frontal and side impact tests conducted by the agency.

Body Highlights

• Lightweight unibody construction


• 36% of body uses high-tensile strength steel


• Projected 5-star NHTSA front impact rating


• Projected IIHS "Good" ratings in offset frontal and side impact
  tests


• Wide-opening three-stage front doors


• Unique exterior colors


• Body-colored headlamp trim

Fit Sport

Models with the available Sport Package offer a more sporty appearance to Fit's
already unique exterior. It adds an underbody kit, rear roofline spoiler and
15-inch aluminum-alloy wheels to enhance road handling and provide a premium,
sporty look.

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High Tensile Strength Steel

High tensile strength steel is used in large portions of the
frame, forming a solid cage around the engine bay and interior cabin and is
a major factor in what engineers expect to be class-leading impact safety measures.
The frame incorporates high tensile strength steel along the front side arched
frame, rocker panel, A-pillar and B-pillar to provide a highly rigid foundation.
In total, 36% of Fit's total unibody weight is from high-tensile strength
steel.

Tailor Welded Blank

The use of tailor welded blanks is becoming increasingly more common in automotive
manufacturing and the Fit is the latest Honda vehicle to incorporate it into
its body structure. Tailor welded blanks help increase structural integrity
while reducing vehicle weight and allowing for lower fuel consumption. In the
2007 Fit, Honda uses this method to form the foundation of the firewall between
the engine bay and the passenger cabin, which also helps support the structural
rigidity of the frame's A-pillar.

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Noise, Vibration and Harshness (NVH)

The Fit is designed to provide a quiet and comfortable ride with minimal engine
noise and minimal road noise intrusion into the cabin. To minimize the noise
and vibration in the engine bay, Honda utilizes side-mounted hydraulic engine
mounts (shown at right), a hydraulic transmission mounts (shown at left), a
new crank pulley damper and a sound-absorbing composite engine cover. In concert, these technologies help to reduce the general noises from the drivetrain.

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To best insulate the cabin when Fit is at highway speeds, Honda started with
highly rigid cross member construction (shown at right) to minimize dynamic
vibration and added sound insulation over a majority of Fit's interior to achieve an exceptionally quiet interior. This includes urethane insulation
on the Fit's roof, floor, dashboard and in holes where body panels are
attached to the frame. Additionally, Fit's hood and wheel wells are all
reinforced with lightweight sound insulation.

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Fuel Tank

Unique to any vehicle in the subcompact class, the centrally-mounted fuel tank
is a key component to the Fit achieving a large interior volume. To help maximize
the useable space on Fit's interior, Honda located the fuel tank in a central
location towards the middle of the vehicle. This allows the floor in the rear
of Fit to be lowered, thus increasing the useable area behind the Fit's front
seats.

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Wide-Opening Front Doors
In order to make ingress/egress as easy as possible, the front doors are designed
with three distinct detents to hold the door open at various degrees. At it's
widest, Fit's front doors are allowed to open at a nearly 80-degree angle to
allow easy entry and exit from the vehicle.

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Multi-Reflector Halogen Headlights with Body-Colored Bezels

The Fit's unique headlight bezels match the exterior color of the vehicle.
Standard on all Fit models, this body-colored headlight bezel gives the Fit
a sleek, integrated appearance day or night.

Exterior Colors

Seven exterior colors will be offered for the Fit, including two exclusive colors
available only on the 2007 Fit. The first new color, Sirius Blue, will only
be available on Fit, while a new, vibrant Blaze Orange will be a Sport model
exclusive. Additionally, Taffeta White, Silver Storm Metallic, Nighthawk Black
Pearl, Milano Red and Vivid Blue Pearl will also be offered.

Exterior Accessories

To help buyers personalize and accessorize the look of their Fit, Honda will
be offering a number of exterior accessories. Most notable is a 16-inch alloy
wheel designed by the Honda Factory Performance group. This bronze-tinted, 8-spoke
wheel will be available both on Fit and Fit Sport. On all models, a mesh sport
grille, chrome exhaust tip finisher and a sport muffler are also offered.