In the deterministic optimization of a structural system, objective function, design constraints and design variables, are treated in a nonstatistical fashion. However, such deterministic engineering optimization tends to promote the structural system with lest reliability redundancy than obtained with conventional design procedures using the factor of safety. Consequently, deterministic optimized structures will usually have higher failure probabilities than unoptimized structures. Therefore, a balance must be developed between the satisfactions of the design requirements and the objectives of reducing manufacturing cost. This paper proposes the reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) technique, which enables the optimum design that considers confidence level for the vibration characteristics of structural system. Response surface method (RSM) is utilized to approximate the performance functions describing the system characteristics in the RBDO procedure. The proposed optimization technique is applied to the pillar section design considering natural frequencies of a vehicle structure.