Recent advances in fiber-reinforced composite materials for enhancing performance in the automotive industry: Trends, challenges and future directions

The automotive industry is facing a fundamental transformation driven by electrification, strict emissions regulations and the demand for lightweight, high-performance and sustainable transportation systems. Fiber-reinforced composite materials (FRCMs) have become important material solutions, providing high strength-to-weight ratios, corrosion resistance, multifunctionality, and design flexibility that are unavailable with conventional metals. This comprehensive review critically synthesizes recent advances across the full spectrum of automotive fiber-reinforced composites, encompassing carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRPs), glass fiber-reinforced polymers (GFRPs), aramid fiber-reinforced polymers (AFRPs), natural/bio-based fiber composites, hybrid laminates and nano-enhanced multifunctional systems. Structural, thermal, acoustic, crashworthiness and lifecycle performances are systematically assessed, together with a critical review of both conventional manufacturing technologies, such as resin transfer molding (RTM), high pressure RTM, sheet molding compounds (SMC/BMC) and compression molding, and advanced processes, such as automated fiber placement (AFP), thermoplastic processing, injection overmolding, and composite additive manufacturing. A comprehensive analysis of critical barriers preventing the large-scale adoption of automotives including mechanical durability, thermal stability, manufacturing cost, recyclability and regulatory standardization challenges are provided. Future directions are discussed, including the integration of artificial intelligence–driven composite design, smart multifunctional architectures, recyclable thermoplastic composites and sustainable circular automotive ecosystems. This review presents a comprehensive and future-oriented roadmap to accelerate the industrialization of advanced fiber reinforced composites for next generation mobility platforms.