Case Study: TRW Automotive achieves rapid clock‑spring prototyping and production‑ready designs with Protolabs

Global tech company's clock spring components take advantage of injection molding at Protolabs

TRW Automotive, a global technology company, needed to pack more functionality into a very compact steering-column control module—specifically iterative redesigns of the small plastic "clock spring" that carries steering-wheel signals and protects thin flexible flat cables. To speed development and avoid premature steel tooling, TRW Automotive used Protolabs for rapid injection-molded thermoplastic prototyping (acetal rotors and covers, PBT housings), occasional CNC machining, and fast online design feedback.

Protolabs produced hundreds of prototypes over several years, providing quoted design analysis within hours and quick turnaround that let TRW iterate, test assembly integration, and validate FFC protection before full tooling. The rapid prototyping from Protolabs reduced development time and cost, supported successful design changes, and helped move the redesigned clock spring components into production.

TRW Automotive

Rick Bowes

Designer