After the accident - Volvo

MAIN FEATURE I AccidentsAfter the accidentThe Volvo Group’s safety programmes do not end when products leave theplant. Several of the Group’s companies have their own accident research teamsand they travel to the scene of real-life accidents.“You can learn things from real life that you can never predict,” says AnnaWrige Berling at the Volvo Trucks Accident Research Team (ART).■The truck is lying on its side on the vergeof the road and, when the large cranesarrive and slowly turn it into its correctposition, it becomes clear that the crash barrierhas torn a large hole along the whole of the containerand cab. Through this hole, it is possible tosee that the truck was carrying timber and thatone of the sharp posts in the crash barrier haspenetrated the windscreen on the right-hand sideof the cab.“The driver survived because he was wearinghis safety belt. He was left hanging in it and wasable to climb out unscathed,” says Stig Boman atproduct development at Volvo 3P.The truck, a Volvo FM (a 2000 model) rolledover while taking a corner at low speed in Gothenburgand Stig has arrived to find out how the accidentoccurred and what has happened to thetruck. Stig is a member of the Volvo Trucks ART,Accident Research Team, which conducts indepthstudies of accidents in which Volvo trucksare involved in order to see whether anything canbe learned from real-life accidents that can thenbe applied to improve safety programmes andproduct development. Volvo Trucks set up its accidentresearch team, now known quite simplyas the ART, in Sweden, back in 1969, at whichtime it was a pioneering move.“This team is still fairly unique in that we routinelylook for accidents that interest us with aview to improving product safety,” says AnnaWrige Berling, head of the ART. Her team consistsof five people from Volvo 3P and Volvo Trucks,who specialise in cabs, complete vehicles, advancedengineering and technical service.The ART’s work has resulted in a large databasecontaining the types of accident in which Volvotrucks have been involved. In all, the team hasinvestigated more than 1,600 accidents and, as aresult of its work, it has access to such an extensivedatabase that it is able to focus on in-depth analysesof the accidents its investigates.Continues on next spread>8 Global Magazine ı 5 2011

By: Karin WikPhotography: Accident Research TeamGlobal Magazine ı 5 20119>

Accidents“Thank goodnessaccidents are so rareand this is due primarilyto proactive work”Lars-Olof Winterfeldt, chief engineerfor Volvo Aero’s products>“It is, for example, really interesting to find outwhether a new model functions as it does in our tests.We often find that a truck functions as it is supposedto, but every accident is still unique in its own way.This helps us to find new crash situations from whichwe can learn and identify improvements for futureVolvo trucks,” explains Anna Wrige Berling.“That’s why we always try to interview the driverabout his or her experience. This is extremely import -ant for us.”She goes on to explain that many drivers still donot use a safety belt and that finding ways of persuadingdrivers to do so is a challenge.“It’s partly a question of comfort. Many drivers frequentlyhave to jump in and out of their cabs andmany of them also think that the safety belt doesn’t fitwell and chafes when the truck bumps up and down.”THE CURRENT DRIVER’S SEAT with “belt in seat” – inother words, the shoulder strap is fitted to the backrestinstead of the cab – has improved the comfort, butAnna Wrige Berling says that work still needs to bedone to increase the use of the safety belt.In the accident in Gothenburg that Stig Bomanhas travelled to investigate, the driver is shaken butunhurt, thanks to his safety belt and the rigid cab.Stig interviews the driver and studies the scene of theaccident in detail. Roll-overs are relatively commonand, even if a more detailed examination is needed tobe completely sure, he has a pretty good idea of thecause.“As it’s laden with sawn timber, the centre of gravitywas probably high. Containers like this one are usuallysealed, so the driver doesn’t know how they are loaded.This can be a disadvantage.”The ART’s investigations are based on collaborationwith the police, the recovery service, customers anddrivers. It travels to between 20 and 25 accidents ayear, the majority in Sweden, but it also visits otherEuropean countries. The team also investigates accidentsinvolving trucks and cars, primarily to see howthe under-run protection system works.All the information is collated and analysed by theART and other experts within the Volvo Group andthey sometimes take things even further and repeatparts of the accident sequence to make comparisonswith mathematical models.VOLVO BUSES ALSO INVESTIGATES real-life accidents,but its ART works in a slightly different way from theone at Volvo Trucks. It focuses primarily on investigatingwhether the Volvo product has contributed tothe accident and whether Volvo needs to take anykind of action. It also aims to help customers who areStig Boman, Volvo 3P, is a member of the Accident Research Team.interested in the cause in order to prevent an accidentbeing repeated. Every year, some 20 fires are investigated,together with a small number of other seriousaccidents.“Fortunately, serious accidents involving buses arerare,” says Frede Overby, accident research managerat Volvo Buses and the person who travels to investigateaccidents.Frede subscribes to press cuttings and receives reportson bus accidents from all over the world. Whenhe learns that a Volvo bus has been involved, he makesphone calls to find out what has happened. He issometimes contacted by customers who have encounteredproblems with their buses and want to knowwhy. If Frede finds something he thinks needs to beinvestigated, he takes further action. As there are Volvobuses in most countries, he travels all over the worldif necessary.“It’s a bit like being a detective, especially if therehas been a fierce fire and all that is left is scrap metal.You find small traces and you have to build from that,”explains Frede.Interviewing the driver is an important part of thework. Was he or she able to brake? Did any error messagesappear on the display? It is also important tocheck the repair history.Magnus Bergström andrules governing safety“This is an incredibly exciting job and you aredriven the whole time by the positive aspect of preventingsimilar accidents happening again,” says Frede.A FEW YEARS AGO, the Volvo Buses ART was able tohelp solve the problem of a number of engine bayfires in Volvo buses where an engine jet pipe had brokenand sprayed diesel oil over hot parts of the engine.It transpired that the problems occurred when one ofthe total of six jet pipes needed to be replaced duringmaintenance. These jet pipes sit in two groups of threeand, to make room for a new pipe, the mechanic wasforced to bend it, thereby weakening the material. Asa result of this discovery, Volvo Parts, Volvo Buses’parts supplier, stopped selling single jet pipes andstarted selling them in packs of three, with the resultthat a new, more straightforward working methodwas introduced. If a single pipe needs replacing, allthree are now replaced without needing to bend one.“A huge amount of work takes place behind thescenes, in addition to the actual accidents,” says Frede.“We are involved in continuous product development,where our work focuses primarily on eliminatingthe risk of fire,” adds Frede Overby.In some countries, like Sweden, all bus accidentsinvolving fatalities are investigated by a government10 Global Magazine ı 5 2011

The truck has rolled over at low speed while cornering and has landed on the crash barrier.Cicci JonsonAccident Research TeamLars-Olof Winterfeldt at Volvo Aero describe the rigorousprogrammes in the aircraft industry.Photo Jukka Lamminluotoagency and Frede then helps to produce the informationthe government inquiry needs.WHEN IT COMES TO VOLVO AERO, which producescomponents for aircraft engines, work on quality andsafety is governed by rigorous regulations, legislationand standards that apply to the whole of the internationalaircraft industry.“Thank goodness accidents are so rare and this isdue primarily to proactive work,” says Lars-Olof Winterfeldt,chief engineer for Volvo Aero’s products, togetherwith Magnus Bergström.If an air accident happens anywhere in the world,it is always investigated by a government accidentcommission. A commission of this kind contacts theengine manufacturer who then contacts Volvo Aeroif there is a suspicion that any of Volvo Aero’s productsare involved“We are then on our toes and ready with all the informationabout our components,” says Lars-Olof,who can actually only remember one occasion, 15years ago, when a component from Volvo Aero wasinvolved in an accident. During the accident inquiry,Volvo Aero produced all the information about theengine component – including the machines it hadpassed through, where the raw material came fromAnna Wrige Berling and Stig Boman enter facts relating to accidents in a database. In-depth analyses then usethese data to improve safety.>“This is an incredibly exciting joband you are driven the whole timeby the positive aspect of preventingsimilar accidents happening again”Frede Overby, accident researchmanager at Volvo BusesGlobal Magazine ı 5 201111

Accidents“This team is still fairlyunique in that we routinelylook for accidents thatinterest us with a view toimproving product safety”AnnaLisa FotoAnna Wrige Berling, head of the ART,Accident Research Team>and how maintenance had been performed on thecustomer’s premises – within two hours.“The accident commission found that everythinghad been done in accordance with all the availableknowledge and current standards, but it still led eventuallyto changes being made to both the productionof that particular component and the global standardthat governed the production method,” explains MagnusBergström.REAL-LIFE ACCIDENTS ARE, however, the exceptionin Volvo Aero’s safety work. The greatest effort is insteaddevoted to what are known as incidents, devi -ations that do not turn into accidents.Within the aircraft industry, there are what areknown as initiative requirements, which means thateveryone that handles the products, from assemblyworkers to calculation engineers, is responsible for issuingan alert if he or she suspects that something isnot as it should be. Together with the quality systems,this leads, in virtually every case, to a defect beingrectified before components leave production.“This is completely normal and is part of our qualityand safety programme. In rare cases, however, we cansuspect a problem in a product that has alreadyreached the customer and this generates large-scaleactivity,” says Lars-Olof Winterfeldt.He describes what happened when it was discoveredthat a delivered component did not have exactlythe desired characteristics.“We suspected that a component that was in theair might be unsafe. As a result, we initiated a majorinvestigation at Volvo Aero and at the customer, butwe eventually found that the product was fine. Wedidn’t need to change our hardware, but we updatedthe user instructions.”The user instruction books for Volvo Aero’s componentsare as thick as encyclopaedias and they are aKenneth Kihlquist, Volvo Trucks, Ulf Torgilsman, Volvo 3P, Anna Wrige Berling, Volvo 3P, Dennis Mattsson,Volvo Trucks, Stig Boman, Volvo 3Ppart of the product that is just as important as thehardware.“These manuals guarantee the airworthiness of aproduct once development and production are completedand we must be active and inform users if theyare changed,” says Magnus Bergström.“The existence of the entire industry is dependenton the general public being able to rely on aircraft.”WORK AT THE VOLVO TRUCKS ART began in 1969 asa Swedish pioneering project in vehicle safety. Thecurrent Accident Research Team has spread not onlythroughout the Group but also all over the world. InJuly this year, the ART entered into a partnership withthe China Automotive Technology and Research Centre,CATARC, the Chinese authorities’ organisationthat is responsible for research and certification relatingto the country’s traffic safety programmes. Thework resembles the work that is done in Sweden andEurope, but the objective is not to investigate individualaccidents but to learn about traffic safety in Chinaon a wider level.“We don’t know how things are organised in China,so we need to learn and obtain basic documentationfor future decisions and priorities,” explains ClaesAvedal at product planning at Volvo 3P.“We need to learn more about the special trafficenvironment in China. It contains everything fromthe traffic systems of the future to outdated infrastructureand the things that apply this year will havechanged completely next year.”Within the framework of the project, the CATARCwill be conducting in-depth studies of several hundredaccidents in a number of Chinese cities over a threeyearperiod. Volvo and a number of other vehiclemanufacturers will then have the chance to study theinformation relating to these accidents.“This partnership is aiming for broad-based, fundamentaltraffic safety. Nothing of this kind has previouslyexisted in China and so it is a truly pioneeringproject. Just like the work the ART began in Swedenin the 1960s,” says Claes Avedal. ■MORE INFORMATION ON THE WAY THE GROUP WORKS ON REAL-LIFE ACCIDENTSRenault TrucksDuring a period of 20 years (until the 2008-2009 financial crisis), Renault Trucks conducteddetailed analyses of truck accidents. A team of specialists travelled to thescenes of accidents to investigate and analyse. This work resulted in an extensive databasecontaining statistics from more than 1,000 accidents. This database is owned byRenault Trucks and is available to the whole of the Volvo Group for its work on productand traffic safety.Since 2008, Renault Trucks has been focusing primarily on accidents that involve vulnerableroad users, such a cyclists and pedestrians in urban environments, in whichdistribution vehicles are involved.MackMack supports customers and the authorities such as the National TransportationSafety Board when they investigate accidents in which Mack vehicles have beeninvolved. Experts both internally at Mack and externally gather and analyse facts andthen take action.Volvo PentaIn special circumstances in connection with an accident, Volvo Penta sometimessends a team to take a closer look. This is not done systematically, however.12 Global Magazine ı 5 2011