ZF TRW Opens Crash Sled Section of Its Anting Technical Center

Underscoring its commitment to investment in China, ZF TRW has recently inaugurated the crash sled section of its Anting Technical Center. The newly included Servo Sled, the fourth crash laboratory within the company’s global footprint, will be located at its modern R&D facility in Anting.

Measuring 66,000 square meters, the company’s largest technical center around the world employs over 1,200 engineering, research, and technical staff and was formally inaugurated in June 2014. Designed and built to house over 20 scientific testing laboratories, it supports all of ZF TRW’s key businesses including braking, occupant safety, electronics, steering and driver assist systems. The center also supports automakers in bringing cutting-edge safety systems to the Chinese market and the broader Asia Pacific region.

In a statement, Norbert Kagerer, global vice president, Occupant Safety Systems Engineering, said that their OSS testing and validation program is an integral part of research and development and the overall business strategy. He added that they are immensely proud to be inaugurating their fourth crash laboratory worldwide in this state-of-the-art research and development facility. “Having the sled locally in Anting will provide strong support for our future growth in China; we can work even more closely with domestic and international OEMs – testing specifically for the Chinese market.”

Kagerer continued that their goal to localize engineering, testing and component production in China along with the fitment of their state-of-the-art technology in this market progresses a step closer today. “Establishing crash sled capability extends our comprehensive offering of safety systems engineering, and represents a major milestone in our global OSS footprint.”

This new equipment offers advanced frontal crash testing with a static pitch and yaw reproducing realistic 3D crash simulations, surpassing US NCAP requirements for Oblique Moving Deformable Barrier (OMDB) at 90kph. Moreover, side impact testing can reproduce load cases compliant with Moving Deformable Barrier requirements for US NCAP, IIHS, C NCAP, Euro NCAP and UN R95. The equipment is designed to solely test front seat collision, rear seat collision or a combination, and is capable for multiple seat plan alterations.

Furthermore, the sled is big enough to simulate load cases for both far side impact and the interaction between the driver and passenger in such a scenario. A larger number of flexible mounts for cameras enables more test viewing angles and images. Also, the sled boasts flexible preparation sectors which can offer confidentiality of simultaneous test set-ups for a number of customers. In combination with pre-defined fixtures and processes to enable fast changes between tests, this sled can test an estimated average of 1000+ shots yearly.