Dynamic analysis using a wholly finite-element total vehicle system model, tends to lead to extremely large-scale models and does not necessarily give accurate results in most cases of frequency range above 200 Hz, where more significant interior road noise problems might occur. It is also found that interior road noise lower than 500 Hz in passenger cars is mainly caused by mechanical (or structure-borne) vibration of relevant components. Therefore, we focused our attention on the development of technology for simulating structure-borne interior noise. This paper discusses the application of a FE model updating technique, based on a preceding sensitivity formulation, to a passenger car's suspension in order to obtain a total vehicle system model for predicting structure-borne interior road noise. It describes how the structure-borne interior road noise can be predicted by a new technique which integrates experimental modal analysis, FEM analysis and its model updating technology, based on the strict methodology of substructure synthesis. The applied updating technique varies the mass and stiffness characteristics of the FE model so that the predicted natural frequencies approach the measured ones of the actual system. The characteristics of the mass and stiffness can be varied according to the proportional change in the FE element mass and stiffness matrices. The model updating technique is applied to improve the dynamic model of a passenger car's suspension based on data from an excitation test.