Press Release – MESSRING to Supply New Crash Test Facility to Testing Authority in Chongqing

Munich/Germany, November 2017 – MESSRING continues to expand its operations in China. As the global market leader for crash test facilities and their components recently announced, the company was just awarded a contract by Chongqing Vehicle Test & Research Institute Co. LTD (CVTRI) to build a new crash test facility in the northern part of Chongqing. The public research institute is home to the center for national bus quality control and national motorcycle quality monitoring and control.
The new test track offers the ability to test cars, trucks, and, in particular, buses. From complete vehicle tests to component tests to energy-efficiency and emissions tests, the facility in Chongqing is also available as an external testing facility. This is now the eighth crash test or sled facility that MESSRING has sold in China in the past two years. At the same time, the size of the team at the company’s Chinese subsidiary Chongqing MESSRING Trading Co. LTD, which was founded in 2014, has grown to now include ten employees. To Dierk Arp, CEO of MESSRING, this growth is a clear sign of the fact that vehicle safety is becoming increasingly important in China: “The trend is moving toward large and multifunctional crash test facilities with the option to test large and small vehicles, active and passive safety systems, as well as both conventional and electric drive systems.”
The new facility purchased by the testing and research authority CVTRI, which was founded in 2003 and operates two national test centers and one regional test center in China, has a total track length of 270 meters. Of that total, 170 meters are located in a covered hall and 100 meters are outside. MESSRING’s MicroTrack rail system will be installed throughout the entire facility, including additional sled tracks for sled tests at certain locations. An electric motor is used to power operations in both directions. Crash tests can be conducted up to a maximum speed of 80 kilometers per hour.
The hall will house a firmly anchored crash block for car impact tests, a rectangular film pit in front of the crash block, and a second, centrally positioned octagon-shaped film pit with a diameter of about eight meters. An additional crash block for crash tests with trucks or buses will mark the end of the outdoor track. The equipment MESSRING will supply also includes two moving barriers with camera tripods.
MESSRING’s designers have already incorporated anchoring systems for rollover, small-overlap, and other types of tests into the facility’s layout. Furthermore, the crash test facility can easily be expanded into an oblique track at a later stage. “With this configuration, the CVTRI’s new crash test facility has a future-proof design and can be used for global testing scenarios, regardless of whether NCAP, US NCAP, or Euro NCAP,” says Mr. Arp, describing the benefits of the concept.
The company plans to bring the new facility into operation in December 2018, with MESSRING’s teams of experts beginning to install the facility on-site in July 2018. MESSRING is managing the project in collaboration with its subsidiary Chongqing MESSRING Trading Co. LTD, which is also headquartered in Chongqing. When it comes to planning, installing, and commissioning the crash test facility, the German and Chinese experts will be working very closely together. “Being able to provide services and support to our Chinese customers through Chinese engineers and employees is very important to us,” says Mr. Arp. MESSRING has also maintained its own spare parts warehouse in China for several years, which allows the company to deliver wear parts and other small components at short notice. MESSRING’s Chinese subsidiary will also be responsible for future service and maintenance of CVTRI’s new facility.