This paper presents a new design method of the 1 generation wheel bearing unit using a numerical optimization technique in order to increase bearing fatigue life. For calculating the fatigue life, a method of load analysis is studied on the automotive wheel bearing system. The design variables selected are ball size, initial contact angle, number of balls, pitch diameter, pre-load, and distance between ball centers. The method of feasible directions in ADS (Automated Design Synthesis) is utilized to automatically find the optimum design variables. To validate the design method, a computer program is developed and applied to a practical passenger car model. The optimum design results demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed design method showing that the system life of the optimally designed wheel bearing unit is enhanced in comparison with that of the initial ones within the given available design space.