Volvo collides with cars in the name of research at a safety center in Sweden
A mannequin waits for a crash test at the Volvo Cars Safety Center in Gothenburg, Sweden, on December 6. [SARAH CHEA]
GOTHENBURG, Sweden — An XC40 electric SUV was parked at the Volvo Safety Center on Dec. 6, with a mannequin next to it sitting in a child car seat with a seat belt on.
Dozens of cameras and lighting equipment were also placed near the vehicle, which is scheduled to crash the next day.
“This vehicle is what we plan to have a crash test on tomorrow,” said Per Lenhoff, director of the safety center, who has worked there for 11 years.
“The vehicle will run the 155 kilometers [96 mile] track at a speed of 120 kilometers per hour and will crash into an 850-ton barrier,” he said. “Dozens of ultra-high-resolution cameras film the crash test from every conceivable angle at a rate of 1,000 frames per second.”
The Volvo Safety Center was first built in 2000 and is where the Swedish automaker runs various simulations of real car accidents with the goal of creating a future where “no one is killed or seriously injured in a new Volvo.”
It is the first time for a car manufacturer to operate a safety center. On average, it crashes at least one brand new Volvo a day. No Volvo models are released to the market without first having gone through crash tests.
![An XC40 SUV awaits a crash test at the Volvo Cars Safety Center in Gothenburg, Sweden, on December 6. [SARAH CHEA]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2022/12/14/4b179fe3-41d5-4fa9-b6df-ba96d2a94cd1.jpg)
An XC40 SUV awaits a crash test at the Volvo Cars Safety Center in Gothenburg, Sweden, on December 6. [SARAH CHEA]
“We do the computer simulations a thousand times before we actually tackle the crash test,” Lenhoff said. “Each car goes through about 100 to 150 tests in 70 different types of crashes.”
Each test costs about 35,000 euros ($37,220), according to Lenhoff, meaning the automaker spends about $5.6 million for each car on safety tests alone.
The center has two test tracks, each 108 meters (354 ft) and 154 meters long, with the shorter one being portable and can be positioned at an angle of up to 90 degrees, enabling a crash test at different angles and speeds, or to simulate a crash between two cars in motion.
There is a door at the end of the track that can be opened to the outside in case the company wants to test the vehicle in more extreme outdoor situations.
Human dummies are always in the car when crash tests are performed. Four human dolls were displayed at the center during the tour: a man, a woman, and a three- and six-year-old.
A 360-kilogram (794-pound) moose-like dummy was also used to simulate the car hitting an animal on the road.
![An XC40 SUV awaits a crash test at the Volvo Cars Safety Centre. [SARAH CHEA]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2022/12/14/800bf51b-04e0-44fc-94d0-5f144a3f5170.jpg)
An XC40 SUV awaits a crash test at the Volvo Cars Safety Centre. [SARAH CHEA]
“Committing to safety is not about passing a test or getting a safety rating,” says Thomas Broberg, one of Volvo Cars’ leading safety engineers and a two-decade veteran of the company.
“Our commitment to safety is about finding out how and why accidents and injuries happen and then developing the technology to prevent them. We hope that our pioneering work will inspire others to follow our ambition to reduce the number of road accidents worldwide.”
Some other brands are also requesting that Volvo run some crash tests for their cars, the company said, although it could not comment on the specific names.
As the company moves toward an all-electric future, the safety center has been specifically equipped and prepared in recent years to also perform crash tests for electric cars, Lenhoff said.
All crashed vehicles and debris are 100 percent recyclable to be reused at the company’s facilities.
![A C40 Recharge at the Volvo Cars Safety Center [SARAH CHEA]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2022/12/14/5abd2463-a787-42dc-b76c-6f40672135df.jpg)
A C40 Recharge at the Volvo Cars Safety Center [SARAH CHEA]
Since 1970, Volvo Cars has had an accident research group to study the causes and damages of accidents. It has studied more than 43,000 accidents and 72,000 injured people.
Based on the research, various safety technologies have been developed including the Whiplash Protection System, a system consisting of energy-absorbing backrests and specially designed head restraints in the front seats to protect against whiplash injuries, and the Side Impact Protection System, a passive safety system to protect against injuries in the event of a side collision .
“Regardless of any scenario, we can recreate it here at the Volvo Cars Safety Center and analyze it in detail,” says Broberg. “For me, it is very inspiring to realize that with every hour of testing and analysis we put in, we are getting closer and closer to our ambition that no one should be killed or seriously injured in a new Volvo.”
BY SARAH CHEA [[email protected]]