MESSRING installs a 100-metric-ton crash block at IAV Ingolstadt’s test facility, which can be repositioned for “small overlap tests” within five minutes
Since the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) introduced the small overlap crash test in the US in 2012, the demand for these types of frontal impact tests has increased steadily year after year. This can have serious consequences for operators of crash test facilities, as it can take a very long time to reconfigure conventional facilities with a stationary crash block for this test. Installing additional barriers alone can take a crash track out of commission for half a day, which has a negative impact on performance, flexibility, and efficiency.
MESSRING demonstrates a better way with the test facility of Ingenieurgesellschaft Auto und Verkehr (IAV) in Großmehring, close to Ingolstadt, where it installed a crash block weighing more than 100 metric tons: At the press of a button, it can be moved to the position required for small overlap tests in just a few minutes. A corresponding barrier can be mounted directly onto the crash block. As a result, modern frontal impact tests can be carried out at short notice and without much effort. This much is already clear: commercial facility operators in particular will have to acquire a mobile crash block if they want to remain competitive.
By its own account, MESSRING has installed a total of ten movable indoor crash blocks of different designs around the world in the past few years. And this number will only grow. Development of the first laser-controlled movable block for outdoor use on unpaved terrain is under way. Time is money – even when it comes to state-of-the-art crash test centers.
