10 crashes a day in one place!

Posted on July 25, 2007 12:00 AM

The Volvo Cars Safety Centre (VCSC) has performed over two thousand crash tests since its inauguration in the year 2000. The level of activity has grown over the years and, on average, ten cars per week are now tested in the crash test laboratory - one of the leading facilities of its type in the world.

Designed to reproduce accidents arising from different situations and conditions, the crash test laboratory is equipped with two tracks, one movable and one fixed. The movable track can be adjusted up to 90 degrees to enable tests of all kinds, from frontal to side collisions, to be carried out between cars traveling at different angles and speeds. The fixed track is long enough to enable the cars to be accelerated to speeds up to 120 km/h. A series of other tests, such as rollover accidents or collisions with animals or other objects in the surrounding environment, can also be performed.

The requirements specified by various public agencies and bodies such as EuroNCAP, NHTSA and IIHS represent only part of the centre's work; Volvo Cars performs additional crash tests to ensure that the collision performance of its cars is the best possible. In the course of development, a new Volvo model undergoes between 100 to 120 crash tests before it is sold to the public.

"To offer cars with a world-class standard of safety, we have to verify that the systems protect occupants of various sizes at a wide range of speeds and in a variety of accident situations. It is the capacity to replicate real-life accidents that makes our facility unique," explained Magnus Krokström, senior manager at the VCSC.

Layout of the VCSC in Sweden

Since the designation of the Volvo Cars Safety Centre as a Safety Centre of Excellence for Ford Motor Company, other makes in the group such as Jaguar, Land Rover and Ford - are also tested there.

Development and testing activities in the laboratory also involve the reconstruction of real-life accidents and analysing actual road accidents and then testing new safety systems in the laboratory enables the safety of cars to be improved, making them safer in the real traffic environment also, according to Mr Krokström. In fact, Volvo has long been conducting its own studies of real-life accidents in Sweden and has developed decades of experience in the field, partly why it is a world leader when it comes to designing cars to be safe.

Since new legislation, market forces and safety systems constantly present the laboratory with new challenges, it is important to maintain close contact with the researcher community to ensure that resources are allocated correctly with an eye to future developments. As an example, when planning work on the Safety Centre began back in 1996, it was foreseen that compatibility, in the context of crashes between large and small cars, would be an important area of research in the future. This is very much the case today.

'T-bone' collisions are among the more common crash tests since they occur in daily driving

Other types of testing that have grown in importance in recent years include rear-end collisions, which have become increasingly common in heavy urban traffic, and angled side collisions, which are a common occurrence at junctions.

"Although we have had to make some modifications since the early days, there are now almost no limits to what we can do in the laboratory," said Mr Krokström.

A typical crash test takes five days to complete, starting with three days are spent preparing the testcar. This involves fitting sensors and applying a matt paint (usually orange), to avoid reflections from the car while filming at ultra high speed. The test dummies, which are very expensive, are also prepared at this time. Final preparation, including the installation of instrumentation systems and cameras, takes place the day before the actual test.

"Although test data can be read out within an hour, manual inspection of both car and dummies is also required. Our analysts deliver a preliminary report to the car project team within 24 hours. This is followed by a more detailed analysis that can take up to a fortnight," he said.

Preparing a dummy for a crash test

It is now possible to carry out computerised crash simulations using advanced supercomputers and this is done about three and a half years prior to the production of a new car model. Physical testing commences about a year before the model is launched on the market.

Testcars used by the project team for other tests are among the vehicles used for this purpose. The cars are updated as required to make them as similar as possible to the final version which will go into the showrooms around the world. However, no physical testing is carried out unless Volvo Cars' safety experts are first satisfied with the results of virtual testing. After all, though necessary, it is costly to conduct a crash test.