Tata Motors' safety drive: A closer look at company's Integrated Safety Centre
In a significant shift, safety is now the driving force in the Indian automotive industry, with a clear focus on enhancing features developed to keep occupants, fellow motorists and pedestrians from harm. In recent years, Indian auto OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) have been making constant efforts to enhance safety across their vehicle lineup.
Tata Motors has taken several key steps in this direction, with all six of its internal combustion engine (ICE) cars boasting safety ratings of four stars or higher. But how does the company ensure safer vehicles? The answer may lie in the Integrated Safety Centre within its Pune manufacturing facility.
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The facility commenced operations on August 1, 1997, shortly before Tata's first car, the Indica, was launched in 1998. Tata believes that ensuring car safety requires a multifaceted approach, including thoughtful design, advanced technologies, and user awareness.
The Integrated Safety Centre has enabled Tata to enhance its vehicles' structural design, reinforcing structures and crumple zones from the base to improve crashworthiness. To meet these safety standards, vehicles undergo testing, including the use of Biofidelic dummies and extensive component testing. Contrary to popular belief that crash tests are conducted with full vehicles, Tata emphasises that safety starts at the design stage, ensuring safer vehicles at optimized costs.
During a recent visit to the facility Sven Patuschka, CTO, Tata Motors told HT Auto that the ensuring safer cars starts right from the point of designing it. This helps in having safer vehicles at optimised cost.
Testing from the scratch
The development of a safe car requires an understanding of safety protocols, which is why the crash test facility in Pune is divided into three zones, with the first being the Servo Acceleration Sled Test Facility.
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The ServoSled is a high-speed accelerator sled system designed to simulate automotive collisions. Sled tests allow engineers to replicate the dynamic conditions of various crash scenarios without damaging the vehicle. Only a few vehicle components are needed for these tests. During side sled tests, the catapult accelerates vehicle components and dummies along a rail at a speed several times higher than gravitational acceleration.
In simpler terms, this test helps the company understand how sudden acceleration and deceleration impacts cabin occupants.
Crash test dummies, resembling rubberized human figures, simulate human responses to impacts, accelerations, and forces during a crash. Each dummy is designed to replicate the form, weight, and articulation of a human body.
Despite their simple appearance, each dummy costs between ₹three crore and ₹five crore due to the sensors inside. Hundreds of sensors and transducers provide life-saving data to safety test engineers, measuring the precise physical forces exerted on each body part during a crash event.
Tata Motors' crash test facility includes a Dummy Calibration Area as well equipped with instruments to measure injuries in crash tests. The facility can also calibrate these dummies according to global safety standards. The company stated that after every five crash, each of the body parts of the dummies are recalibrated to ensure proper results.
While GNCAP uses male dummies for crash tests, Tata Motors also uses female dummies to ensure vehicle safety. The company is also exploring dummies that can simulate the effects of crashes on organs.
Destructing cars so that you stay safe
When we think of crash tests, we often picture a fully assembled vehicle being slammed into a metal wall at high speed. This type of test is conducted in the Full Vehicle Crash Test Facility. Tata Motors' facility can conduct upto one vehicle crash test per day, and in 2023, the company conducted a total of 150 crash tests. These tests are not only for internal purposes but also for consumer groups like GNCAP and BNCAP.
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The facility is equipped to conduct various crash tests for both domestic and European markets, including:
- Offset Deformable Barrier impact 64 (ODB64): Simulates a 40% offset crash against a deformable barrier at 64kph, representing a frontal accident scenario in the real world.
- Side Mobile Deformable Barrier impact 50 (MDB 50): Simulates a side crash against a deformable barrier at 50kph, representing a side accident scenario in the real world.
- Frontal Pole Impact: Represents a frontal crash against a pole.
- Side Pole Impact: Represents a side crash against a rigid pole, representing a tree or pole accident scenario in the real world.
The facility uses a sophisticated light setup to mimic the power of actual sunlight. The entire crash test process is captured using 10 cameras that can record at a speed of 1000 frames per second.
After the crash test, the damaged vehicle is taken to a lab where engineers study the damage by examining the external body shell and interior of the vehicle. They also analyse data collected from the sensors placed inside the vehicle and the crash test dummies.
Customer preference driving safety
Safety has become a top concern for Indian consumers, with many prioritizing updates on safer routes, maintenance alerts, and vehicle health reporting to enhance road safety and avoid potential collisions. Tata Motors acknowledges this trend and states that through substantial investments in research and development, the company is actively involved in developing safety standards, including passive safety and ADAS technologies, to improve safety standards across the automotive sector.
These efforts demonstrate Tata Motors' commitment to not only meeting regulatory requirements but also proactively enhancing safety standards. As road infrastructure improves, the demand for safer vehicles becomes more pronounced, emphasizing the importance of these initiatives.
