Crash test laboratory: Historical milestones 2000-2010
Crash-test laboratory - Milestones 2000-2010
- 2000 - The new crash-test laboratory is inaugurated on 29 March by His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. It is one of the most advanced facilities of its kind in the world.
- 2000 - Tests of central road dividers made by wires.
- 2001 - Volvo Cars is appointed Centre of Excellence for safety within the parent corporation, Ford Motor Company. Over the following years, many crash tests are carried out on various models from Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover and Ford of Europe in Volvo's high-tech crash-test laboratory. The laboratory is also used by Volvo Trucks.
- 2002 - A new test rig for roll-over tests is demonstrated. The media are invited to witness a roll-over test of the new Volvo XC90.
- 2003 - Media activity involving a crash test in which the company's largest model, the XC90, drives into the side of the smallest model in the range, the Volvo S40, at 50 km/h.
- 2007 - The 2000th crash test is carried out in May.
- 2008 - A new set of digital high-speed cameras is installed. They can take 200 000 frames a second and this advanced technology provides enhanced scope for studying in minute detail exactly what happens to the test dummies and the car in a collision.
- 2008 - New test rig that creates a unique possibility to film the car from below when it hits a lamppost or tree.
- 2010 - The crash-test laboratory - which is still one of the most advanced in the automotive industry - celebrates its 10th anniversary by performing three different types of complex crash tests during one day in front of 100 invited journalists. A record in itself! All told, almost 3,000 crash tests have been carried out in the laboratory during its first ten years of operation.