Composites have become preferred material for weight reduction in automobile. Hybrid composite materials are used in many engineering applications for their versatile properties like lightweight, strength to weight ratio, low cost, ease of structure development and high strength. Automobile industry utilizes composites and hybrid composites in many of the interior and exterior applications. Considering ease of manufacturing methods under the wider choice of fabrication techniques, hybrid composites are developed wherever it can contribute for the enhancement of functional requirement simply by replacing the existing materials. Hybrid composites made from blending of natural and synthetic fibers in a polymer matrix show synergistic effect on properties which cannot be achieved from normal composites. In this paper, hybrid composites and especially its types, diversity of properties and possible material combinations are reviewed in detail. The development of a various type of hybrid composites in automotive applications such as in automotive piston application, brake friction material for medium duty automotive application, development of eco-friendly automotive anti-roll bar and low-velocity impact response of hybrid carbon/glass fiber-reinforced polymer composites are also reviewed in detail.

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In this study, a comparative analysis of basalt, E‐glass and hybrid fiber reinforced vinyl ester composites was carried out. Composites were fabricated using vacuum infusion process with 0°/90° and ±45° as fiber orientation angles. The influence of volume fraction on mechanical behaviors and surface morphology of impact fractured composites were analyzed. The glass and basalt fibers oriented at 0° have shown higher load bearing capability, whereas the fibers oriented at 45° angle have shown higher plastic deformation. Hybridized composite having silane treated glass fibers has shown enhanced mechanical properties including tensile strength, bending strength, toughness, and elongation at break due to good bonding between fibers and polymer matrix. The tough and flexible interface between fiber and matrix dissipates more energy through stress transfer from matrix to fiber, allowing increased resistance to shearing. The impact test of BGS‐0.2 hybrid composite showed 103% and 108% of strength improvement compared to basalt (B‐0) and glass fiber (G‐0) reinforced laminates, respectively. However, the fiber orientation at 45 degree showed reduced the strength and modulus with high elongation. The fractography micrographs of hybrid composites have shown the effectiveness of basalt and glass fiber orientation in the composites and bonding between fiber and matrix indicating flexible interphase between the fiber and matrix during impact loading. The composites added with silane have shown marginal increase in water uptake due to presence of polar functional groups in the coupling agent.