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Volvo's New Safety Centre Opens; Offers Unique Testing Capabilities

March 29, 2000 9:01 AM EST

GOTHENBURG, Sweden, March 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Volvo's $100 million investment in automotive safety is now open and in use, helping to develop safer cars and to preserve Volvo's role as a leader in automotive safety.

Some of the most advanced elements are described below.

The new Volvo Cars Safety Centre has the world's most advanced crash barrier. The new barrier will make it possible for Volvo to do much more realistic crash testing, and learn how to build lighter cars without sacrificing safety. Additionally, the new barrier is versatile enough to allow a far higher number of crash tests can be performed on a complete car - up to ten per week compared with three today.

Virtual tests in a new NEC SX-4 supercomputer pave the way for faster development of new Volvo car models with even greater precision. Volvo's supercomputer capacity allows for a crash situation to be simulated any number of times, swiftly and inexpensively, at different speeds with different types of safety system and different body sizes for the occupants. Six simulated full-car crashes can be carried out per 24-hour period.

With the help of a new, advanced, moving test track carried on air cushions, crashes between two cars moving towards each other can be carried out from all imaginable angles and speeds. The ability to combine two tracks - one of which can be moved - makes the laboratory at the Volvo Safety Centre unique in the automotive world.

The main benefit of crash simulation compared with full-scale crash tests is that it is possible to repeat the same crash over and over. Minor adjustments to such things as the function of the safety belt or the airbag activation can be carried out between each test, making it possible for Volvo Cars' crash analysts to gain greater insight into how these and other protection systems should be designed.

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