Volvo: Lab tests no substitute for real world accidents

Volvo considers real-world crashes. Photo / Supplied

Laboratory crash tests allow direct car-to-car comparisons but they don't replicate the real world. Volvo discovered that fact 40 years ago, when studying the impact of the introduction of standard seat belts for front occupants. A year's real-world analysis showed a 50 per cent reduction in injuries for Volvos fitted with seatbelts.

Volvo researcher John Fredrik Gronvall says it's important to understand customer behaviour.

"They respond differently to various situations. That is why we need to understand the driver's behaviour and how it influences the sequence of events in a real-life accident."

Gronvall's team has gathered information from about 40,000 Volvo crashes since the unit opened, then conducted 2100 in-depth analyses to determine how the cars' safety systems behaved in a real-world crash and how people were injured.

Crash statistics are also used to predict how likely a certain type of crash is to occur.