The Swedish carmaker,Volvo , has built its reputation on safety. The manufacturer has consistently been at the forefront of crash testing and developing active and passive safety systems. At the heart of its testing operations is the Volvo Cars Safety Centre, which has performed over 2,000 crash tests since its inauguration in the year 2000. The level of activity has grown over the years and now ten cars per week are tested in the crash laboratory, which has become one of the leading facilities of its type in the world.

The centre, which is designed to reproduce different kinds of accidents, is equipped with two tracks, one movable and one permanent. 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 travelling at different angles and speeds. The permanent track is long enough to enable the cars to be accelerated to speeds up to 120km/h. A series of other tests, such as rollover accidents or collisions with animals of other objects in the surrounding environment, can also be performed.

The requirements specified by various public agencies and bodies such as EuroNCAP and IIHS represent only part of the centre’s work. The carmaker, which is part of Ford’s PAG group, 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 no less than 100 to 120 crash tests.

“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,” says Magnus Krokstrom,senior manager at the Volvo Cars Safety Centre.

In total, about 450 crash tests are carried out annually. Since the Volvo Cars Safety Centre was designated as a centre of excellence for the Ford Motor Company, other makes of car produced by the group- including Jaguar,Land Rover and Ford- are also tested there.
Developing and testing activities in the laboratory also involve the reconstruction of real-life accidents:”Analysing actual road accidents and then testing new safety systems in the laboratory enables us to improve the safety of our cars, making them safer in the real traffic environment”says Magnus.

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 ersources 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. And so it has proved. 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,” says Magnus.

A crash tesh takes five days to complete. Three days are spent preparing the test car, fitting sensors and applying a matt paint usually orange, to avoid reflections from the car while filming. The test dummies are also prepared at this time. Final preparation includes installing instrumentation systems and cameras and takes place the day before the actual test. On average, two crash tests are performed every day, which ensures the facility is used effectively.

“Although test adta 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,”says Magnus.

Computerised crash simulations are performed ,using advanced computers, 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. Test cars 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. However, no physical testing is carried out unless Volvo Car’s safety experts are satisfied with the results of virtual testing.

Testing of preventive safety systems- systems that help to prevent accidents- has also begun secently. Effective test methods are now much more advanced than the first Volvo crash test 50 years ago- when a car was rolled down a hill to hit a concrete wall – and improving such methods represents a big challenge for the Volvo Cars Safety Centre.

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瑞典汽车制造商Volvo在安全方面已经建立了它的声誉。该制造商一一如既往得站在碰撞测试和开发主被动安全系统的前沿。它整个测试过程的核心是Volvo汽车安全中心，该中心从2000年成立以来已经进行了超过2,000次碰撞测试。测试的规模在逐年扩大，现在已经有每周十辆车在碰撞实验室进行测试，而这个实验室已经成为世界上几个最重要的同类型实验室之一。

该中心设计可以再生了不同类型的事故，有两条车道，一条可移动的，另一条固定的。可移动的车道可以调成多达90度来实现各种测试，从车头部撞击到侧面撞击，都可以使两辆车以不同的角度和速度进行撞击测试。固定车道足够长从而保证汽车能够加速到120km/h。一系列的其它测试，例如翻滚事故，与动物或其它周围环境物体的撞击都可以在这里进行测试。

由例如EuroNCAP（欧盟新车安全评价规程）和IIHS（美国道路安全协会）等各种公共机构或团体提出的测试要求只是中心工作的一部分。该汽车制造商也Ford豪华车集团的一部分，还需要进行其它的碰撞测试来保证车辆的碰撞性能能到达尽可能的优秀。在开发过程中，一辆新的Volvo模型需要进行不少于100至120次的碰撞测试。

“为了提供具有世界级安全性能的车辆，我们必须验证系统能够保护各种体型的拥有者在各种事故环境和相当宽的一段速度范围的安全。能够再现真实事故的能力使我们的设备与众不同。”Volvo的汽车安全中心高级经理Magnus Krokstrom说。

总体上每年进行大约450次碰撞测试。自从Volvo汽车安全中心被设计成为整个Ford汽车公司的一个优秀中心，其它的集团生产车辆包括美洲虎（Jaguar），路虎（Land Rover）和福特（Ford）也在这里进行测试。

实验室的开发和测试过程也包括真实事故再现：“分析真实道路事故然后在实验室测试新的安全系统保证我们能够提高我们汽车的安全性，使它们在真正的交通环境中更加安全。”Magnus说。

新的法规，市场力量和各种安全系统不断呈现在实验室前，带来新的挑战。维持和研究团体的紧密联系十分重要，这能够保证在资源能分配上能够着眼于未来的发展方向。

举个例子，当1996年安全中心的计划工作开始时，已经预见到了大车和小车的碰撞中的兼容性成为一个未来发展的重要方向。最后事实也证明了这一点。近年来其它逐渐引起重视的测试还包括追尾碰撞，这在繁重地城市交通内越来越常见，还有带角度的侧面碰撞，在道路交汇处经常发生。

“尽管早些时候我们不得不制定一些限制，但现在对于现在我们能够在实验室里做什么几乎没有什么限制。”Magnus说。

一个碰撞测试需要五天时间来完成。三天时间花在准备测试汽车，安装测试传感器和涂上无光涂料上，无光材料通常采用桔黄色，来避免在摄像时的汽车的光反射。测试假人也需要在这段时间准备。最后的准备包括安装仪器系统和摄像机，这个是在实际测试的前一天进行。平均来说，每天进行两个碰撞测试，保证实验设备高效利用。

“尽管测试数据可以在一个小时内读出来，但也需要对于车和假人进行手动检查。我们的分析师在24小时内提供给汽车项目研究小组一份初步报告。在两周后还会拿出一份更详细的测试报告。”Magnus说。

在新车型制造前大约三年半时间利用高级计算机进行碰撞模拟。在车型上市前一年时间进行物理测试。项目研究小组所使用的用于其它测试的汽车就在这些用于该目的的车辆之中。汽车根据要求改装成和最终版尽可能相似。然而，除非Volvo汽车安全中心专家对于实车测试满意，否则不能进其它物理实验。

预防性的安全系统测试，即能够帮助预防事故发生的系统，最近也已经开始进行了。现在有效的测试手段已经比50年前Volvo的首次碰撞测试先进了很多，当时让一辆汽车从山上翻滚下来最终碰撞一面水泥墙。改进这些测试方法标志着Volvo汽车安全中心的一个重大挑战。