This paper describes the new Technology Center for Vehicle Safety (TFS) at the Mercedes-Benz R&D location in Sindelfingen (Germany). The new crash test site was inaugurated in November 2016, replacing the former building from 1973. It is equipped with crash test areas, sled test facilities, and test rigs for component testing.

In order to design the new facility, requirements resulting from future regulations, internal test modes, and rating tests were analyzed. A special focus was set on the simulation of real life crash scenarios, such as vehicle to vehicle collisions under different angles. Those configurations had a major influence on the layout.

The dimensions of the building were defined by the maximum weight of test vehicles, the maximum desired speed, as well as the space requirements for a head-on collision with two moving vehicles. Therefore, the longest crash track measures around 245m (800ft) resulting in a building length of 279m (915ft). A large 90m x 90m (295ft x 295ft) indoor area without any pillars supplements the crash track to provide the required space for multiple moving test objects.

In order to get the necessary capacity of up to 900 full scale crash tests and more than 1,700 sled tests per year, it was necessary to implement additional test tracks inside the building. The final layout comprises three test tracks plus the angled test area in a highly configurable setup. Due to the space restrictions in the Sindelfingen plant, the tracks were positioned in a way that the ground space needed for the building was minimized without compromises in the performance of the crash facility. The maximum width of the TFS could be limited to 170m (560ft), resulting in a gross story area of 58.260m2 (627,000ft2).

With the new building, the entire process from the test object entering the building, the preparation, the testing and the post processing was revised for highest efficiency. All steps can be done paperless with a high amount of automation. New three dimensional photogrammetric measurement techniques were implemented using an automatic laser surface scanning device while the vehicle is standing on a turntable. With that technology, deformation data from the crash can be directly processed in common CAE tools.

With respect to future drivetrain technologies, a highly sophisticated fire and explosion protection system was developed. Alternative drivetrains may include lithium ion batteries and/or for instance hydrogen or other gas tanks. The requirement was to provide a safety concept enabling full scale crash testing with fully loaded batteries or gas tanks.

Another field of innovation was the testing of higher vehicle automation systems and their sensing technology. The building should allow the assessment of interactions between active safety systems and new enhanced pre-crash systems, such as pre-deploying restraint components.

For this purpose, the TFS will allow fully programmable vehicle motion inside the crash hall. Specifically, the vehicle can move without a towing cable. With that technology, the test lab is designed to conduct full scale vehicle testing including the assessment of future crash avoidance/mitigation systems.