After the Accident - Volvo
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Transcript of 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.
8
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
10 Global Magazine 5 2011
Accidents
>
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
>
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
12 Global Magazine 5 2011
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