When did carmakers start conducting their own crash tests?
In the 1950s, manufacturers woke up to the importance of road safety and that was when they started crash testing. The tests gained importance at the end of the last century and have now achieved a high level of performance. What is special about the crash tests at PSA Peugeot Citron? We use impact scenarios that go beyond the requirements imposed by legislation or Euro NCAP. These scenarios are based on input from the accident specialists working at the LAB Accidentology, Biomechanics and Human Behaviour Laboratory, set up jointly with Renault in 1969 further to collisions involving the Group’s vehicles. What role do virtual crash tests play? Virtual crash tests have become more important in our activity and now represent an essential preparation for the physical crash tests that follow. In 10 years, information processing technology has enabled us to reduce the number of crash tests with prototypes in any given project from more than 40 to just 10. We use modelling techniques to anal
