Extreme crash testing
It’s crash testing like you’ve never seen before. Where cars are constantly subjected to crash tests typically performed in laboratories, Volvo Cars has gone one step further by dropping brand new models multiple times from a crane … from a hight of 30 metres!
The idea behind this extreme exercise is to simulate the damage found in the most extreme crash scenarios in order to gain valuable information for future extrication work. In such situations, the people inside the car are likely to be in a critical condition and therefore the priority is to get them out of the wreck and to a hospital as quickly as possible.
Usually rescue workers get their training vehicles from scrapyards, but these cars are often up to two decades old. And in terms of steel strength, safety cage construction and overall durability, there is a vast difference between modern cars and those built fifteen to twenty years ago.
A total of ten Volvos, of different models, were dropped from the crane several times. Before the drop, Volvo Cars safety engineers made exact calculations about how much pressure and force each car needed to be exposed to, in order to reach the desired level of damage.
All findings from the crashes and the resulting extrication work will be collected in an extensive research report. This report will be made available free of use to rescue workers elsewhere, allowing them to benefit from the findings and further develop their life-saving capabilities.
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