Confident in Borderline Situations

Consumers want their vehicles to be safe and convenient. Yet it takes all manner of expertise and experience to satisfy these two demands in every driving situation. This calls for the chassis and suspension experts from TRE – because their driving-dynamic measurements perfectly balance chassis, suspension and driving dynamics control (ESC) to make sure they interact in all situations as required.

Even in borderline situations, such as fast avoidance maneuvers or bends taken too fast, vehicles need to be kept under safe control. This is what ESC does: selectively slowing down wheels prevents the car from swerving. And in most cases, it does so almost or completely unnoticed by the driver. “For instance, we want to avoid hard braking wherever possible so that ride comfort is not impaired by ESC intervention”, explains Sebastian Manke, Head of Chassis Development and Testing at IAV’s TRE subsidiary. “This demands a well-calibrated chassis and optimized electronic speed control.”

On behalf of customers, TRE’s experts examine exactly how well both actually interact on international test tracks. “For over seven years now, we have devoted much attention to ESC testing under ECE standard R13 H”, Manke reports. “During this time we have built a wealth of expertise.” Usually, his team is involved in the development process at least twice: in advance engineering as soon as the first pre-production vehicles are available, and shortly before SOP.

But the specialists do not only carry out tests – their acknowledged chassis and suspension expertise also lets them provide their customers with suggestions for improvements. “Optimizing ESC first demands a well-calibrated chassis, in other words, the perfect combination of damping, suspension and stabilizers”, Manke says. “At an early stage we use simulations here: they let us replicate driving maneuvers on a virtual basis for identifying ways of optimizing the chassis and suspension behaviour.”

The development process results in vehicles that can reliably cope with borderline situations – even SUVs which, on account of their high center of gravity, are at particular risk. Thanks to their know-how and experience, the experts from TRE make sure that these vehicles too are safe and comfortable to use.

ABS/ESC driving dynamics measurements

• Subjective/objective
• High friction coefficient and My-low
• Response behavior, stability, benchmark
• ISO lane change, slalom
• Customer-specific driving maneuver catalog (Testing driver assist systems, ACC, parking steering assistant a.s.o.)

Stability tests and rollover

• Measuring equipment installation and support
• Autonomous testing, analysis and documentation
• Measurements with ABD steering robots
• Compensated ground-clearance measurement by laser sensors