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Crash test for “big versus small”: The crumple zone is softer in larger bodies than in smaller ones in order to ensure what the experts call “compatibility”
I60 years of crash testing in Germany
n August 1959, the Mercedes 220 W111 – testing purposes . Today, the Technology Centre commonly known as the “Big Fintail” – became for Vehicle Safety (TFS) in Sindelfingen carries the first model to be produced by what was out around 900 crash tests per year . The facility is
then Daimler-Benz AG that featured a crumple considered to be one of the most cutting-edge in
zone body . Daimler-Benz carried out its first crash test with this vehicle one month after production started, on 10 September 1959 . It was the first such test in Germany – but not the first in the world,
as is commonly supposed . French manufacturer Renault ran this type of test as early as 1955 with
a Renault Dauphine, and Ford also operated an accident-testing facility in Dearborn, Michigan – where Daimler-Benz sent its agents to take a look before running its own tests . Nonetheless, the September 1959 test was something akin to the big bang of safety research as far as Daimler-Benz was concerned: crash tests were established as integral to every vehicle development project for the brand from then on .
Over the past 60 years, some 14,000 Mer- cedes-Benz cars ended up in the scrapyard for
the world: commissioned in 2016, its construction took three years and included the use of 7,000 tons of steel . It contains a vast testing area that measures 243 × 172 × 23 meters .
Crash tests are practically indispensable for type approvals of new vehicles . But every country has its own testing regulations, so there is always a huge amount of body damage to be produced whenever an international launch takes place . As a global manufacturer, Daimler has to take account of some 40 different test configurations (“load cases”), though during development it applies a benchmark that is more rigorous than any of the requirements . In addition to 15,000 crash test simulations, every newly developed model has to undergo approxi- mately 150 real-life crash tests – even in the age of computer simulation .
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Photo: © Daimler AG