The tests will help determine how easily the occupants can escape once the car has been submerged. AP photo.
New technologies and driver assistance systems make tests that measure vehicle safety in the event of an accident increasingly challenging.
The association that controls the safety of 0 km cars marketed in Australia and New Zealand (ANCAP, from its acronym in English) is making a surprising change to the criteria of its crash tests, and from January 2023 it will carry out new verification tests how well some systems work underwater.
This means that the tests will help determine how easily they can escape occupants of a vehicle once the car has been submerged.
The systems must operate for a maximum of 10 minutes after the vehicle has been placed underwater. AFP photo.
And for a vehicle to receive the highest rating (five stars) it must be “elusive” for a certain period of time underwater.
As unusual as it may seem, this unusual measure will be part of the new protocol It has strong arguments.
Authorities explain that when a driver hits a body of water and the vehicle is submerged, the water pressure and panic they can make it nearly impossible to open car doors.
submarine tests
ANCAP tests require vehicle occupants to be able to open doors and lower power windows up to 10 minutes after submerging the car.
Manufacturers must provide that the occupants can manually open the windows.
Car manufacturers that don’t meet the new standards will have to provide a way for the occupants break or open manually the side windows.
“While it is important never to enter flooded streets, recent flood events have reminded us once again that floods can take a vehicle and its occupants unexpectedly,” said Carla Hoorweg, executive director of ANCAP.
“Anyone who has experienced the terror of being locked up on land can imagine the sheer panic that would ensue if this happened underwater,” he added.
In the United States, for example, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) determined that there were 384 deaths between 2004 and 2007 that could be attributed to drowning; a figure that represented less than 1% of deaths due to road accidents in that country in 2007.
Water pressure and panic can make it impossible to open a door. photo EFE
Perhaps most alarming is the number of new cars with retractable door handles and fancy door opening designs. Several Tesla owners have complained about freezing door handles over the winter.
Although the standard for underwater testing has just emerged in Australia, it would not be surprising if other markets adopted a similar standard.
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Source: Clarin
