Vehicle crash testing isn't cheap, but every day engineers all over the automotive world watch the fruits of their labor get slung into walls or
bisected by large concrete blocks. It's all in the name of safety, though it's probably painful to watch.
It's painful to pay for too. With government regulations requiring more and more crash tests of carmakers to ensure safety for occupants, a cost-effective way to smash expensive pre-production models was in order.
Enter the Servo Sled. Put into use by Ford in the fall of last year, it is an important piece of equipment that's reducing the time and cost associated with safety-related research and design of a new vehicle.
The Servo Sled is used at Ford's Safety Innovation Lab (SIL) in Dearborn.
In effect, engineers are able to reconstruct a mockup of a vehicles interior to be installed on top of the sled into something called a buck. In a crash test, the sled accelerates the buck (and the interior which is fitted to it) at a high rate of speed. The lucky crash-test dummies on board record information, but the trick is that the sled and buck can be re-used. The interior is replaced after each impact.
Matthew Makowski, Fords Crash Safety Supervisor for the 2008 Escape explains.
"I've worked on a number of programs where we've crashed several [expensive] early prototype vehicles. With the Servo Sled, along with other analytical tools, we've completely eliminated that step to save time and money."
That's very important, as Ford crash-tests up to 600 vehicles a year. Safety first!
 |
| (Photo: Ford) |
It's painful to pay for too. With government regulations requiring more and more crash tests of carmakers to ensure safety for occupants, a cost-effective way to smash expensive pre-production models was in order.
Enter the Servo Sled. Put into use by Ford in the fall of last year, it is an important piece of equipment that's reducing the time and cost associated with safety-related research and design of a new vehicle.
The Servo Sled is used at Ford's Safety Innovation Lab (SIL) in Dearborn.
 |
| (Photo: Ford) |
Matthew Makowski, Fords Crash Safety Supervisor for the 2008 Escape explains.
"I've worked on a number of programs where we've crashed several [expensive] early prototype vehicles. With the Servo Sled, along with other analytical tools, we've completely eliminated that step to save time and money."
That's very important, as Ford crash-tests up to 600 vehicles a year. Safety first!
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