No compromise on safety

WITNESSING a head-to-head collision between two speeding cars would normally horrify people, but not when it takes place in the crash test facility of Honda Motor Co. Ltd. at its R&D center in Tochigi, Japan.

In fact, you come away comforted by the real-life evidence which you saw with your own eyes that Honda cars ensure maximum passenger protection and vehicle safety.

In 2000, Honda opened the world’s first indoor, all-weather omnidirectional crash test facility within their major R&D center in Tochigi, Japan. In 2003, Honda built a new Auto Safety Research Facility in its R&D center in Raymond, Ohio.

Every new Honda vehicle is extensively crash-tested in real life situations at these advanced crash test facilities which conduct a variety of tests to provide Honda with a deeper understanding of what happens in real-world collisions.

In addition to standard barrier tests, the facility tests cars in situations that simulate actual traffic accidents between vehicles.

The facility is capable of conducting a wide variety of both real-world and simulated crash tests including full frontal, angled barrier, side impact and offset crash tests along with simulations of various tests related to the performance of safety systems such as airbags and seatbelts.

From this, Honda develops technologies that advance vehicle safety and passenger protection as well as pedestrian safety in pursuit of the company’s “Safety for Everyone” concept.

The Tochigi crash test facility cost 6-8 billion yen to develop and has 41,000 square meters of floor space. Built into the floor of this laboratory are eight test tracks that are laid out in a spoke-like radial configuration.

The other week, Asean journalists invited by Honda to attend the 44th Tokyo Motor Show took a side trip to Tochigi to witness a frontal 50-percent offset collision test at 50 kilometers per hour involving a Japan-spec Honda Fit 1.5 RS (known as Jazz in the Philippines) and a Honda CR-V 2.0 G.

Both cars carried two crash dummies each—one in the driver’s seat and the other in the front passenger seat.

The cars were accelerated at and by speed using an in-floor propulsion unit down their respective tracks and hit each other at 50 kph. The collision was monitored and recorded by computers, sensors and cameras.

After the debris had been cleared, we were allowed to go down and examine the dummies and the wreckage. The airbags had deployed as intended, saving the hands, faces and upper bodies of the dummies in both cars.

The pair in the CR-V would have survived and probably walked away with hardly a scratch. The only visible sign of injury was found on the driver of the Fit, the smaller car. His left knee had hit the lower dashboard area, causing it to fracture.

The crash test demonstration confirmed Honda’s leadership in the field of automobile safety research.

Small wonder that at the Asean NCAP (New Car Assessment Program) Grand Prix Awards in August 2014 in Kuching, Sarawak, in Malaysia, the Honda Civic won in the Best Child Occupant Protection (COP) Medium Family Category and the Honda CR-V in the SUV Category.

In the Best Adult Occupant Protection (AOP) program, the 2014 Honda City won in the Small Family Category, the Honda CR-V in the SUV Category.

The 2014 Honda City garnered the Best Overall AOP award while Honda’s Lane Watch capped the Safety Technology Award (carmaker category).

In the latest Asean NCAP program, a total of eleven cars were subjected to the standard offset front collision test at 64 kph and a mobile side collision at 50 kph.

The HR-V, the only Honda car entered, received the maximum five-star rating for AOP and four stars for COP.

HondaCrash

Honda Cars Philippines Inc.