Volvo's Test Ground Proves to be Torture for Cars - VIDEO FEATURE

GOTHENBURG - November 10, 2010: Hällered, a fenced-in 7 million m² area an hour away from Gothenburg, Sweden, is Volvo Cars main testing facility. The track stretches 26 km, consisting of 15 different test tracks designed to simulate every type of road surface and weather condition a car can be subjected to during its long life time, including a fully-equipped public highway within the area. The tests are carefully planned and computer monitored. In just a few months, cars are aged as much as during the entire anticipated lifetime of the vehicles in normal traffic, thanks to test drivers working around the clock. The car's active safety system is also tested at the facility. A special rig has been developed just to test the Pedestrian Detection system that should detect pedestrians and apply the brakes if the driver does not react in time.

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