This newspaper (chinatimesnet.CN) reporters Liu Kai and Yu Jianping report from Beijing.
With the intensification of competition in consumption upgrading, while building product power, automobile safety has gradually become an important label of brand power.
Data shows that in 2022, the number of people killed by traffic accidents in China will be as high as 61,703, and 250723 people will be injured, with an average of 1 person dying and 7 people being injured in traffic accidents every 7 minutes. Therefore, the safety performance of automobiles has also become the focus of consumers' attention. In addition to driving safety, in the Internet era, information security and after-sales safety have also become the focus of attention of automobile consumers, so companies have begun to seize the opportunity to gather various safety links and open up the vehicle safety industry chain.
Currently, in the automotive industry, one of the ways to analyze car safety is car crash testing. The test is mainly to determine the damage of the vehicle in the accident and the degree of protection of the vehicle for the occupants by imitating the more dangerous collision mode that may occur when the car is in motion. As a result, almost all vehicles are crash tested when they are marketed, and if they fail the tests, the construction is re-studied.
Vehicle crash testing is significant
Automobile crash test has a certain reference significance in measuring automobile safety indicators. Crash testing can not only provide improvement directions for car companies, but also effectively help consumers understand the safety of cars in the event of a collision. Zhao Yongqi, an observer of the automotive industry, told the China Times. In his view, safety has gradually become an important purchase criterion for today's consumers when buying vehicles, and in many cases, the results of crash tests will directly affect consumers' desire to buy. At the same time, if the damage to the vehicle in the event of a collision is severe, repairs** will be high, and even if you have insurance, it will affect the next year's premium.
In addition to crash tests, car companies will also conduct road tests, extreme cold and heat tests, light tests, air conditioning system tests and other dimensional tests, and adjust production assembly and parts according to the test results to ensure that the car has better performance.
However, as more and more vehicles participate in crash tests, car companies are gradually familiar with various test standards, and some car companies have begun to strengthen their car bodies accordingly for crash test standards. In order to get a high score in the crash test item, some car companies have even made improper modifications to the front door lining of the test vehicle, adding an additional "notch" so that when the side airbag is deployed, the originally sharp door panel will not cause additional damage to the dummy in the car.
Zhao Yongqi told reporters: "Now the crash test is basically an 'open-book test', and for car companies, it is easy to participate in this kind of test, which also makes consumers question the test results." ”
In this context, some platforms and institutions have begun to enter crash testing, in order to use more realistic collision situations to let consumers understand the safety performance of vehicles. For example, C-NCAP of China Automotive Research Institute, C-IASI of China Insurance Research Institute, Chedi and Autohome.
Tian Li, an analyst in the automotive industry, told the China Times: "In recent years, the industry has become more popular in the industry to be concerned about vehicles colliding with each other, although the data may be biased, but it is already a more intuitive accident result." ”
It is worth noting that with the increasing market share of new energy vehicles, consumers have begun to pay special attention to the safety performance of new energy vehicles, especially whether new energy vehicles have safety advantages compared with fuel vehicles.
According to the "China New Energy Vehicle Safety Development Report" of the Autohome Research Institute, there are 763% of users are worried about the safety of new energy vehicles, and more than 60% of them believe that fuel vehicles are safer than new energy vehicles, and their trust in fuel vehicles far exceeds that of new energy vehicles.
To this end, Autohome started with the current hot new energy vehicles and launched the "Breakthrough Plan". A relevant person from Autohome told the China Times: "The plan is to test the safety of two different fuel models through the collision of new energy vehicles and fuel vehicles, deeply analyze the differences between new energy vehicles and fuel vehicles in product design concepts, start from the needs of car owners, find a breakthrough in the safety evaluation of new energy vehicles, and also lead the new trend of new energy safety evaluation and upgrading." ”
The layout of the security industry chain has brought new growth points
The reporter also randomly interviewed several consumers, and some consumers believe that the current new energy vehicles use large-capacity batteries, and if they encounter violent collisions, the safety risks brought by the vehicle structure and batteries will be higher. However, some consumers believe that with the development of technology, more new energy vehicles will begin to use integrated structural design, and the protection of batteries will also be strengthened simultaneously.
In order to solve consumers' safety concerns about new energy vehicles, Autohome collided with the best-selling pure electric models of the same level with the "Fuel Vehicle Safety Benchmark" model, and directly hit the first "oil and electricity" safety collision from a third-party perspective. At the same time, the collision is also tested and upgraded with reference to the international safety collision standard, and the new test content is added to conduct more dimensional crash tests.
According to industry insiders, the general evaluation of the industry will only set up a dummy test in the front row, and there is no specified battery power of the model. In order to realistically simulate real-world driving scenarios, the "Breakthrough Project" added a rear dummy to the test process, which also more comprehensively evaluates the car's ability to protect the occupants in the event of a collision, especially the safety of the rear passengers. This also brings consumers a more intuitive and in-depth automotive safety experience.
Secondly, in the conventional crash test of new energy vehicles, the battery power is generally reduced as much as possible to reduce the risk of collision. In order to be closer to the actual use, after communication with professional testing institutions, the "Breakthrough Project" will try to maintain more than 50% of the battery power in the crash test for the first time, which not only increases the variables of the test, but also provides a more meta-dimensional direct reference for daily vehicle safety. After the collision, the "breakthrough plan" also dismantled the accident battery, directly hitting the safety limit of the battery.
In addition, during the collision, the staff will also pay close attention to the changes in the body structure of the petrol-electric twin car and the damage to important components, the trigger sensitivity and obstruction of the rescue system within 5 minutes of rescue. These include e-call, double flash, airbags, seat belts, door handle design, and more.
It is worth mentioning that in order to avoid the problem of false publicity and test-taking structure of some models on the market, the corresponding comparative test has also been added to the "breakthrough plan". By comparing the performance of different models of oil and electricity under the same crash conditions, the safety performance of each model can be displayed more intuitively, so that consumers can more accurately understand the safety performance of each model. For example, after the collision of the petrol and electric vehicles, it was found that the dummies arranged in the back seat had been injured beyond recognition, while the two dummies in the front seat were fine. This also objectively and truly reflects that in the actual riding process, the passengers in the rear seat are relatively unsafe, which further reminds car companies to strengthen the safety of the rear seat when developing vehicles.
Tian Li believes that the "gasoline-electric collision" is not only a simple safety collision test, but also a collision between oil vehicles and trams, which may completely change consumers' perception of the safety of new energy vehicles. "It's no longer about a simple crash score, it's about a more comprehensive and in-depth assessment of a car's safety performance in a variety of situations. ”
Tian Li said: "Such a test can more comprehensively evaluate the safety performance of the car in the event of an emergency, so that consumers can understand and pay attention to the safety of the car, and at the same time provide a more reliable reference for consumers to buy a car." For Autohome, it not only improves the influence of the industry, but also allows capital to see its new layout ideas, which is expected to become a growth point for the development of the enterprise. ”
Editor-in-charge: Li Yanan Editor-in-chief: Yu Jianping.