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TRACK & WHEELHigh safety levelfor the driverThe new R-series cab has also undergone sledtests to test portions of the new interior as wellas a special collision test designed to resembleas closely as possible one of the most seriousaccidents a truck driver can experience – drivingstraight into the rear of a stationary truck trailerduring a sudden traffic jam on a motorway.“This is a specially designed test not mandatedby any legal requirements,” Michael Öman says.“Scania has chosen to develop this test on its ownin order to ensure an even higher level of safety.”Controlled deformationBefore – and after. In a computer simulation the head-on collision with an Audithe Scania cab’s new underrun protection system is deformed in a controlledway, reducing the crash energy.and its brackets behave in such a collision and how other vitalfunctions in the truck are affected.In head-on collisions between a truck and a car, the car maybecome wedged under the truck. This usually results in fatalitiesor severe personal injuries to the car’s driver and passengers. Inaddition, the truck may lose its steering ability and turn over.“Our primary requirement for an underrun protectionsystem is that it must prevent the car from driving under thetruck,” says Michael Öman, passive safety expert at Testingand Simulations. “At the same time, the truck must retain itssteering and braking ability.”Before Scania carried out crash testing at Dutchresearch organisation TNO’s facility in Delft, the collisionwas computer-simulated over and over again by mechanicalengineers at the Scania Technical Centre in Södertälje,Sweden. Only after this digital underrun protection system andits brackets had been deformed in a controlled way did Scaniamanufacture the prototype used in the actual physical tests.Scania was the first heavy-truck builder to offer frontalunderrun protection. It was launched in 1995 as standardequipment on Scania’s 4-series long-haul trucks. Laterthe European Union also realised the importance of suchprotection for people in passenger cars, and in 2003 a lawrequiring frontal underrun protection was enacted.To ensure the safety and robustness of the cab structure,various crash and impact tests are carried out. The new R-serieshas a wider radiator that enables it to take in more coolingair, as well as a new front cab suspension. These new featureshad to be tested to ensure that they met both internal safetystandards and legal requirements.Impact tests subject the cab to powerful pendulum blowswith predetermined energy levels from different directions.“Scania cabs meet worldwide ECE R29 standards, as well asSweden’s even tougher safety standards for truck cabs,” Ömanexplains. “The most important difference is that in the Swedishtest, all three separate strength tests that are included must becarried out on the same cab.”33