Interview with Rodolfo Schöneburg: “We don’t rely only on the computer.”

Rodolfo Schöneburg is the head of Passive Safety and Vehicle Functions at Daimler

Mr. Schöneburg, what role do crash tests play in optimizing the safety of vehicles?

Crash tests are indispensable for more than just ensuring that we meet our high safety standards. They continue to be an important source of data that we need in order to advance passive safety. We use actual crash tests, but also crash simulations, throughout a vehicle’s entire development phase — for example, to check the behavior of new materials and joining techniques. It is therefore no coincidence that the Crash Hall is located right in the middle of the Mercedes-Benz Technology Center. This puts us as close as possible to key departments such as Mechanical Design and Design, and also to the people who are responsible for the various production series.

The tests you perform in the Crash Hall are much more comprehensive and demanding than the laws and guidelines require.

We have indeed assumed a pioneering role when it comes to safety testing. Our safety engineers have been performing offset crashes, where in contrast to a frontal collision only a portion of the vehicle’s front end slams into an obstacle, since the 1970s. This offset crash has now become anchored in many laws and ratings worldwide. We also perform tests that are not anchored in any law or rating, which is very much in keeping with our philosophy of Real Life Safety. These include the roof impact test, for example, in which we drop the vehicle onto the ground from a height of half a meter in order to test the strength of the roof. This test is not required by any law.

Besides the actual crash tests, you also perform a much larger number of simulated crash tests. Can we expect the computer to replace the real test?

Of course simulation is important when a variety of scenarios must be examined. This makes crash simulation especially useful in the early phase of vehicle development. However, we generally do not rely on the computer alone.

Crash tests represent the advanced development and corroboration of the passive safety of a vehicle. But the ESV 2009 Experimental Safety Vehicle also demonstrates the great importance and potential of active safety. To what extent can a crash test also serve today as a test option for active safety systems?

We have our own function checks for active safety systems. However, we do indeed have to answer the question of the extent to which active safety systems influence crash behavior. Take PRE-SAFE, for example, which can intervene in an emergency and of course affects the seating positions of the occupants when the vehicle brakes autonomously.

CURRICULUM VITAE

+++ Diploma at Technical University Berlin in Aeronautics and Business Administration +++ Ph.D. at Technical University Berlin (topic: Copmuter-aided Crash simulations with simplified Structural Models) +++ Awarded with “Paul Pietsch Award” for the innovative safety system PRE-SAFE +++ Since 1999 head of Passive Safety and Vehicle Functions at Daimler