Chassis
load-bearing framework of an artificial object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function
A chassis (US: , UK: ; plural chassis from French châssis [ʃɑsi]), is the load-bearing framework of a manufactured object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function.
An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart of a motor vehicle, on which the body is mounted; if the running gear, such as wheels and transmission, and sometimes even the driver's seat, are included, then the assembly is described as a rolling chassis.
Examples
Vehicles
In the case of vehicles, the term rolling chassis means the frame plus the "running gear" like engine, transmission, drive shaft, differential, and suspension. The "rolling chassis" description originated from assembly production when an integrated chassis "rolled on its own tires" just before truck bodies were bolted to the frames near the end of the line. An underbody (sometimes referred to as "coachwork"), which is usually not necessary for the integrity of the structure, is built on the chassis to complete the vehicle.
For commercial vehicles, a rolling chassis consists of an assembly of all the essential parts of a truck without the body to be ready for operation on the road. A car chassis will be different from one for commercial vehicles because of the heavier loads and constant work use. Commercial vehicle manufacturers sell "chassis only", "cowl and chassis", as well as "chassis cab" versions that can be outfitted with specialized bodies. These include motor homes, fire engines, ambulances, box trucks, etc.
In particular applications, such as school buses, a government agency like the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the U.S. defines the design standards of chassis and body conversions.
The public source identifies “Chassis” as load-bearing framework of an artificial object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Chassis, load-bearing and framework.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1068107. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Chassis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.