Vehicle frame

Ladder frame pickup truck chassis holds the vehicle's engine, drivetrain, suspension, and wheels
The unibody - for the unitized body - is also a form of a frame

A vehicle frame, also historically known as its chassis, is the main supporting structure of a motor vehicle to which all other components are attached, comparable to the skeleton of an organism.

Until the 1930s, virtually every car had a structural frame separate from its body. This construction design is known as body-on-frame. By the 1960s, unibody construction in passenger cars had become common, and the trend to unibody for passenger cars continued over the ensuing decades.[1]

Nearly all trucks, buses, and most pickups continue to use a separate frame as their chassis.

  1. ^ "Body on frame vs. Unibody: Pros and cons". autonews.com. 23 June 2017.