After the Accident - Volvo

8/10/2019 After the Accident - Volvo

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8 Global Magazine 5 2011

MAIN FEATURE IAccidents

Te truck is lying on its side on the verge

o the road and, when the large cranes

arrive and slowly turn it into its correct

position, it becomes clear that the crash barrier

has torn a large hole along the whole o the con-

tainer and cab. Trough this hole, it is possible to

see that the truck was carrying timber and that

one o the sharp posts in the crash barrier has

penetrated the windscreen on the right-hand side

o the cab.

Te driver survived because he was wearing

his saety belt. He was lef hanging in it and was

able to climb out unscathed, says Stig Boman at

product development at Volvo 3P.

Te truck, a Volvo FM (a 2000 model) rolled

over while taking a corner at low speed in Gothen-

burg and Stig has arrived to nd out how the ac-cident occurred and what has happened to the

truck. Stig is a member o the Volvo rucks AR,

Accident Research eam, which conducts in-

depth studies o accidents in which Volvo trucks

are involved in order to see whether anything can

be learned rom real-lie accidents that can then

be applied to improve saety programmes and

product development. Volvo rucks set up its ac-

cident research team, now known quite simply

as the AR, in Sweden, back in 1969, at which

time it was a pioneering move.

Tis team is st ill airly unique in that we rou-

tinely look or accidents that interest us with a

view to improving product saety, says Anna

Wrige Berling, head o the AR. Her team consistso ve people rom Volvo 3P and Volvo rucks,

who specialise in cabs, complete vehicles, ad-

vanced engineering and technical service.

Te ARs work has resulted in a large database

containing the types o accident in which Volvo

trucks have been involved. In all, the team has

investigated more than 1,600 accidents and, as a

result o its work, it has access to such an extensive

database that it is able to ocus on in-depth analy-

ses o the accidents its investigates.

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The Volvo Groups safety programmes do not end when products leave the

plant. Several of the Groups companies have their own accident research teams

and they travel to the scene of real-life accidents.

You can learn things from real life that you can never predict, says Anna

Wrige Berling at the Volvo Trucks Accident Research Team (ART).

Ater the accident

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9Global Magazine 5 2011

By: Karin Wik Photography: Accident Research eam

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It is, or example, really interesting to nd out

whether a new model unctions as it does in our tests.

We ofen nd that a truck unctions as it is supposed

to, but every accident is still unique in its own way.

Tis helps us to nd new crash situations rom which

we can learn and identiy improvements or uture

Volvo trucks, explains Anna Wrige Berling.

Tats why we always try to interview the driver

about his or her experience. Tis is extremely import-

ant or us.

She goes on to explain that many drivers still do

not use a saety belt and that nding ways o persuad-

ing drivers to do so is a challenge.

Its partly a question o comort. Many drivers re-

quently have to jump in and out o their cabs and

many o them also think that the saety belt doesnt t

well and chaes when the truck bumps up and down.

THE CURRENT DRIVERS SEATwith belt in seat in

other words, the shoulder strap is itted to the backrest

instead o the cab has improved the comort, but

Anna Wrige Berling says that work still needs to be

done to increase the use o the saety belt.In the accident in Gothenburg that Stig Boman

has travelled to investigate, the driver is shaken but

unhurt, thanks to his saety belt and the rigid cab.

Stig interviews the driver and studies the scene o the

accident in detail. Roll-overs are relatively common

and, even i a more detailed examination is needed to

be completely sure, he has a pretty good idea o the

cause.

As its laden with sawn timber, the centre o gravity

was probably high. Containers like this one are usually

sealed, so the driver doesnt know how they are loaded.

Tis can be a disadvantage.

Te ARs investigations are based on collaboration

with the police, the recovery service, customers and

drivers. It travels to between 20 and 25 accidents ayear, the majority in Sweden, but it also visits other

European countries. Te team also investigates acci-

dents involving trucks and cars, primarily to see how

the under-run protection system works.

All the inormation is collated and analysed by the

AR and other experts within the Volvo Group and

they sometimes take things even urther and repeat

parts o the accident sequence to make comparisons

with mathematical models.

VOLVO BUSES ALSO INVESTIGATES real-lie accidents,

but its AR works in a slightly dierent way rom the

one at Volvo rucks. It ocuses primarily on investi-

gating whether the Volvo product has contributed to

the accident and whether Volvo needs to take anykind o action. It also aims to help customers who are

interested in the cause in order to prevent an accident

being repeated. Every year, some 20 ires are investi-

gated, together with a small number o other serious

accidents.

Fortunately, serious accidents involving buses are

rare, says Frede Overby, accident research manager

at Volvo Buses and the person who travels to investi-

gate accidents.

Frede subscribes to press cuttings and receives re-

ports on bus accidents rom all over the world. Whenhe learns that a Volvo bus has been involved, he makes

phone calls to nd out what has happened. He is

sometimes contacted by customers who have encoun-

tered problems with their buses and want to know

why. I Frede nds something he thinks needs to be

investigated, he takes urther action. As there are Volvo

buses in most countries, he travels all over the world

i necessary.

Its a bit like being a detective, especially i there

has been a erce re and all that is lef is scrap metal.

You nd small traces and you have to build rom that,

explains Frede.

Interviewing the driver is an important part o the

work. Was he or she able to brake? Did any error mes-

sages appear on the display? It is also important tocheck the repair history.

Tis is an incredibly exciting job and you are

driven the whole time by the positive aspect o pre-

venting similar accidents happening again, says Frede.

A FEW YEARS AGO, the Volvo Buses AR was able to

help solve the problem o a number o engine bay

ires in Volvo buses where an engine jet pipe had bro-

ken and sprayed diesel oil over hot parts o the engine.

It transpired that the problems occurred when one o

the total o six jet pipes needed to be replaced duringmaintenance. hese jet pipes sit in two groups o three

and, to make room or a new pipe, the mechanic was

orced to bend it, thereby weakening the material. As

a result o this discovery, Volvo Parts, Volvo Buses

parts supplier, stopped selling single jet pipes and

started selling them in packs o three, with the result

that a new, more straightorward working method

was introduced. I a single pipe needs replacing, all

three are now replaced without needing to bend one.

A huge amount o work takes place behind the

scenes, in addition to the actual accidents, says Frede.

We are involved in continuous product develop-

ment, where our work ocuses primarily on eliminat-

ing the risk o re, adds Frede Overby.

In some countries, like Sweden, all bus accidentsinvolving atalities are investigated by a government


Accidents

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Stig Boman, Volvo 3P, is a member of the Accident Research Team. Magnus Bergstrm and

rules governing safety

Thank goodnessaccidents are so rare

and this is due primarilyto proactive work

Lars-Olof Winterfeldt, chief engineer

for Volvo Aeros products


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11Global Magazine 5 2011

agency and Frede then helps to produce the inorma-

tion the government inquiry needs.

WHEN IT COMES TO VOLVO AERO, which produces

components or aircrat engines, work on quality and

saety is governed by rigorous regulations, legislation

and standards that apply to the whole o the interna-

tional aircrat industry.

Tank goodness accidents are so rare and this is

due primarily to proactive work, says Lars-Olo Win-tereldt, chie engineer or Volvo Aeros products, to-

gether with Magnus Bergstrm.

I an air accident happens anywhere in the world,

it is always investigated by a government accident

commission. A commission o this kind contacts the

engine manuacturer who then contacts Volvo Aero

i there is a suspicion that any o Volvo Aeros products

are involved

We are then on our toes and ready with all the in-

ormation about our components, says Lars-Olo,

who can actually only remember one occasion, 15

years ago, when a component rom Volvo Aero was

involved in an accident. During the accident inquiry,

Volvo Aero produced all the inormation about the

engine component including the machines it hadpassed through, where the raw material came rom

This is an incredibly exciting job

and you are driven the whole time

by the positive aspect of preventing

similar accidents happening againFrede Overby, accident research

manager at Volvo Buses

s-Olof Winterfeldt at Volvo Aero describe the rigorous

ogrammes in the aircraft industry.

Photo Jukka Lamminluoto

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The truck has rolled over at low speed while cornering and has landed on the crash barrier.

Anna Wrige Berling and Stig Boman enter facts relating to accidents in a database. In-depth analyses then use

these data to improve safety.

AccidentResearchTeam

CicciJonson


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Accidents

> and how maintenance had been perormed on thecustomers premises within two hours.

Te accident commission ound that everything

had been done in accordance with all the available

knowledge and current standards, but it still led even-

tually to changes being made to both the production

o that particular component and the global standard

that governed the production method, explains Mag-

nus Bergstrm.

REALLIFE ACCIDENTS ARE, however, the exception

in Volvo Aeros saety work. he greatest eort is in-

stead devoted to what are known as incidents, devi-

ations that do not turn into accidents.

Within the aircraf industry, there are what are

known as initiative requirements, which means that

everyone that handles the products, rom assembly

workers to calculation engineers, is responsible or is-

suing an alert i he or she suspects that something is

not as it should be. ogether with the quality systems,

this leads, in virtually every case, to a deect being

rectied beore components leave production.

Tis is completely normal and is part o our qualityand saety programme. In rare cases, however, we can

suspect a problem in a product that has already

reached the customer and this generates large-scale

activity, says Lars-Olo Wintereldt.

He describes what happened when it was discov-

ered that a delivered component did not have exactly

the desired characteristics.

We suspected that a component that was in the

air might be unsae. As a result, we initiated a major

investigation at Volvo Aero and at the customer, but

we eventually ound that the product was ne. We

didnt need to change our hardware, but we updated

the user instructions.

Te user instruction books or Volvo Aeros com-

ponents are as thick as encyclopaedias and they are a

part o the product that is just as important as the

hardware.

Tese manuals guarantee the airworthiness o a

product once development and production are com-

pleted and we must be active and inorm users i they

are changed, says Magnus Bergstrm.

Te existence o the entire industry is dependent

on the general public being able to rely on aircraf.

WORK AT THE VOLVO TRUCKS ART began in 1969 as

a Swedish pioneering project in vehicle saety. hecurrent Accident Research eam has spread not only

throughout the Group but also all over the world. In

July this year, the AR entered into a partnership with

the China Automotive echnology and Research Cen-

tre, CAARC, the Chinese authorities organisation

that is responsible or research and certiication relat-

ing to the countrys traic saety programmes. he

work resembles the work that is done in Sweden and

Europe, but the objective is not to investigate individ-

ual accidents but to learn about traic saety in China

on a wider level.

We dont know how things are organised in China,

so we need to learn and obtain basic documentation

or uture decisions and priorities, explains Claes

Avedal at product planning at Volvo 3P.

We need to learn more about the special traffic

environment in China. It contains everything rom

the traffic systems o the uture to outdated inrastruc-

ture and the things that apply this year will have

changed completely next year.

Within the ramework o the project, the CAARC

will be conducting in-depth studies o several hundred

accidents in a number o Chinese cities over a three-

year period. Volvo and a number o other vehicle

manuacturers will then have the chance to study the

inormation relating to these accidents.Tis partnership is aiming or broad-based, un-

damental traffic saety. Nothing o this kind has pre-

viously existed in China and so it is a truly pioneering

project. Just like the work the AR began in Sweden

in the 1960s, says Claes Avedal.

Anna Wrige Berling, head of the ART,

Accident Research Team


This team is still fairly

unique in that we routinely

look for accidents that

interest us with a view to

improving product safety

Renault Trucks

During a period of 20 years (until the 2008-2009 financial crisis), Renault Trucks con-

ducted detailed analyses of truck accidents. A team of specialists travelled to the

scenes of accidents to investigate and analyse. This work resulted in an extensive data-

base containing statistics from more than 1,000 accidents. This database is owned by

Renault Trucks and is available to the whole of the Volvo Group for its work on product

and traffic safety.

Since 2008, Renault Trucks has been focusing primarily on accidents that involve vul-

nerable road users, such a cyclists and pedestrians in urban environments, in which

distribution vehicles are involved.

Mack

Mack supports customers and the authorities such as the National Transportation

Safety Board when they investigate accidents in which Mack vehicles have been

involved. Experts both internally at Mack and externally gather and analyse facts and

then take action.

Volvo Penta

In special circumstances in connec tion with an accident, Volvo Penta sometimes

sends a team to take a closer look. This is not done systematically, however.

MORE INFORMATION ON THE WAY THE GROUP WORKS ON REALLIFE ACCIDENTS

Kenneth Kihlquist, Volvo Trucks, Ulf Torgilsman, Volvo 3P, Anna Wrige Berling, Volvo 3P, Dennis Mattsson,

Volvo Trucks, Stig Boman, Volvo 3P

AnnaLisaFoto

After the Accident - Volvo

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