Meet Volvo's Crash Test Facility

posted on 11/15/2016 by Volvo of Louisville

Volvo vehicles have long been held up as the benchmark for vehicle safety, through the creation of vehicles that hold up in crash testing, as well as innovation of safety features. The latter is what often gets the most attention, with innovations over the years including:

• Laminated glass
• The three-point safety belt
• The rear-facing child seat
• The impact-reducing Side Impact Protection System
• Side impact protection airbags
• Head-protecting airbags
• Door-mounted inflatable side-curtain airbags for convertibles

While these get a lot of the attention, there’s so much more that goes into safety, and that’s why every year, hundreds of Volvos have their final destination in the back yard of Volvo’s Gothenburg headquarters.

The Volvo Safety Center

At the Crash Test Facility at Volvo Safety Center, an $81 million dollar facility unveiled in 2000, Volvo vehicles undergo the most brutal and comprehensive crash testing in the world, at one of the most advanced facilities in the world. This isn’t a facility that just aims a car at a wall and lets it go – technologically advanced systems and equipment are employed, such as:

• Non-destructive crash simulation using a supercomputer. Capable of carrying out up to 6 simulated full-car crashes every day, inputs for the system can include different vehicles, different speeds, different safety systems functioning or failing, different body sizes for occupants, and many other variants. With no need for a physical vehicle, this can help Volvo engineers decide what situations require further testing and investigation.
• A unique physical crash simulator that can test pitch, penetration, and other collisions without actually destroying the car body. This allows for reuse, helping to limit the number of vehicles destroyed during testing.
• Specially-built rigs that allow components to be tested individually or as part of a small part of the interior environment, instead of requiring a full-vehicle test – after all, there’s no need to destroy an entire vehicle to check if changing the design of the steering wheel slightly will have an effect on passenger safety.
• The AstaZero closed testing course that provides a configurable, closed environment to test evasion and autonomy systems, with simulated city environments, a massive high-speed skid pad, and a remote-controlled moose.

Of course, you still need real-world tests, where you can see the true impact on a vehicle. Every year, over 400 Volvos meet their end at the safety center.

Advanced Crash Testing

One of the most important parts of the facility is the advanced crash testing equipment and procedures, undertaken in the Advanced Crash Laboratory. Two test racks, one permanent and one movable, allows Volvo to re-create a greater variety of accident situations than most conventional crash test facilities. Being able to combine these tracks is unique, and this is topped off by an 881-ton high-tech collision barrier that sits on air cushions, meaning it can be moved and rotated to further increase variables.

All of this is watched and calibrated by an extensive equipment including advanced laser technology that can tweak things with millimeter precision, an array of sensors, and high-speed cameras that can document all sorts of angles. Having the measurements and visuals to analyze means that Volvo engineers can further play with factors and check results side-by-side. This means they can evaluate the forces exerted on a vehicle in a collision more effectively than ever before.

Here at Volvo Cars of Louisville, we are proud to stand behind vehicles that are some of the safest on the planet. Safety has always been the primary concern of our company – as our founders stated “The guiding principle behind everything we make at Volvo, therefore, is and must remain, safety.” We invite you to come out and see for yourself what safety looks like and drives like, and we think you’ll find that our brand of safety is perfect for you and your family.

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