Richmond Hill, Ontario — Volvo’s new safety test teaches first responders how to extract individuals from severely damaged vehicles.
To simulate intense crashes with modern cars, Volvo decided a standard laboratory test was no powerful enough. Instead, a crane lifted 10 brand new Volvo models 98 feet in the air and then dropped them onto an impact site to simulate the most brutal collisions.
The test was done in partnership with Sweden first responders to learn how to extract people from totally damaged vehicles in the shortest possible time. Volvo said dropping the vehicles allowed the engineers to re-create the “most extreme crashes, beyond what can be simulated with ordinary crash testing.”
Volvo said the drops are a great way for understanding how vehicles crumble in “single-car accidents at very high speed, accidents whereby a car hits a truck at high speed, or accidents whereby a car takes a severe hit from the side.”
Everything learned from the crash test and what the first responders did with their tools will be put into a report that will be made free to access for other rescue workers.
