Safety testing

With a dedicated team, laboratory, testing facilities and access to an accredited Euro NCAP test track, we are fully equipped to perform a variety of advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) tests. We perform consumer tests for passenger vehicles, for example, those devised by Euro NCAP. We are also fully equipped to perform all ADAS tests conforming to current UNECE regulations for heavy duty vehicles; namely ECE Regulation 130 (LDWS) and ECE Regulation 131 (AEBS). All of our ADAS activities are ISO 17025 accredited.

Our in-house test facility in Helmond, The Netherlands is ISO 17025 and Euro NCAP accredited – a single destination for all crash testing. Our dedicated team is skilled and trained to follow the latest regulations, such as small-overlap testing and car-to-MPDB (mobile progressive deformable barrier) testing. The full-scale crash facility with its 150-meter track offers a wide range of testing capabilities necessary to cover both existing and future legal as well as customer-specific requirements.

Before being introduced into the market, all road furniture – such as light and sign structures, road restraint systems, motorcyclist protection systems and truck mounted attenuators – must be certified for the valid safety regulations. At our proving ground we are accredited to test, assess and approve road safety products according to the valid protocols and standards. Our independent test laboratory is ISO 17025 accredited for testing conform Construction Products Regulation 305/2011, and we work in close cooperation with Notified Certification Bodies to offer customers one center of excellence for all road furniture safety testing and certification needs.

Our testing facilities are equipped with the latest test equipment, complemented with more than 50 years of child restraint system (CRS) expertise. The complete test setup for ECE R44 and ECE R129 regulation certification in dynamic frontal, rear and side-impact tests are ready for use in our test facilities. We also perform Swedish plus pulse tests, pre-consumer testing and COP procedures, we offer the complete spectrum of CRS tests. Our testing facilities at Helmond, The Netherlands are accredited by E4 RDW, E1 KBA and ISO 17025.

Our ISO 17025 lab in Helmond, The Netherlands is authorized to test protective helmets against several standards worldwide. We test and homologate various type of helmets according to regulations like UNECE-22 and PPE-R 2016/425. We work directly with the applicable approval authorities for protective helmet legislation.

Our ISO 17025 accredited lab in Helmond, The Netherlands is qualified for aviation seat crash testing. Besides aircraft passenger seats and flight attendant seats, we also test aircraft interior systems. These tests are performed at our indoor crash facility. Our Airbus accredited test lab can perform sign-off tests and development tests specifically designed to customer needs.

Our ISO 17025 accredited test lab marine component testing offers testing solutions, such as lifeboat seats. Testing is done following the SOALS requirements (safety of life at sea). Since lifeboats are launched from heights of up to 60 meters above sea level, the G-forces that occupants face are very high and sometimes even comparable to vehicle crashes.

To measure possible injuries and deceleration of the vessel when impacting, we perform drop tests on-site using our measurement equipment, such as instrumented test dummies and accelerometers. The recorded data of these tests can be used to validate a simulation model which can be used to simplify the test setup. We can perform these tests in our indoor crash facility in Helmond, The Netherlands.

Testing engineers need to consider both pedestrian and occupant safety. In our ISO 17025 accredited test lab in Helmond, The Netherlands, our dedicated team is able to perform all pedestrian protection tests. We carry out a series of impact tests to estimate the potential risk of injury in the event of a car-to-pedestrian accident. We test pedestrian adult and child head, and pedestrian upper leg and pedestrian lower leg impact, all to 40 kilometers per hour. All tests are performed according to Euro NCAP protocols and UNECE regulations.

Since 2008, all new high-speed trains must fulfill crashworthiness requirements stated in EN 15227. For this requirement, we test the absorption of energy during a collision. For these railway tests — specifically for tests with energy absorbers — we have developed a trolley that can be ballasted to a maximum of 22 tons. This trolley is used to establish the crash performance of energy absorbers which are mounted inside the front-end and rear-end construction of high-speed trains. Tests are performed in our ISO 17025 accredited lab in Helmond, The Netherlands.

Our in-house test laboratory facilities have dedicated equipment for restraint system (development) testing. The inversed sled (IBS) allows repeatable testing with any pre-defined vehicle pulse for multiple matrixes for numerous load cases. We are also able to provide you with the end-to-end solution: from measuring the vehicle pulse to testing on the IBS and validating with another measurement of the vehicle pulse afterward. We also have a wide range of test dummies available.