Vehicle & Component Performance Analysis

Capabilities

• Structural Crashworthiness

  Crashworthiness can be defined as a structure's ability to protect users from injury during a crash or related incident. Exponent can analyze specific incidents, perform meta-analyses to assess a structure's real-world performance, and perform laboratory and/or full-scale crash testing to assess a structure's response to a specific set of circumstances or to test conditions defined by standards.

  Our capabilities include robotic-controlled steer-induced rollover testing; dolly rollover testing; moving and static barrier testing of frontal, side, and rear impacts (including fuel system integrity testing); single- and multi-vehicle accident reconstruction testing; and static and dynamic roof crush testing. We have a suite of calibrated, instrumented ATDs (crash test dummies) that provide data that can be compared with established injury risk metrics. These tools can be used to assess the performance of a single product, compare that performance across a field of competitive products, and assess that performance against relevant industry practices, regulatory requirements, and customer expectations.

• Safety System Performance

  Safety is a critical factor in vehicle design. For more than fifty years, clients have relied on Exponent to provide rigorous, science-based assessments of the safety performance of their vehicles and component systems including  — seat belts, airbags, seat backs, glazing, fuel, and electrical systems, as well as vehicle structures.

  As transportation technologies evolve to include new forms of transportation such as autonomous vehicles (AV), micromobility devices, and vehicles equipped with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), new and innovative safety systems are being introduced and rapidly refined. Exponent is uniquely positioned to help clients stay ahead of the safety challenges of today and tomorrow, and to navigate the ever-changing regulatory environment.

• Vehicle Electrification

  Current developments in alternate powertrains have necessitated innovation in power storage. With new storage technologies, like high-capacity batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), come new challenges. Exponent's teams of vehicle, mechanical, electrical, and materials engineers support clients with answers they need in areas of failure analysis, safety design consulting, control system analysis, new technology design support, and full-scale testing of intact and compromised EV battery assemblies.

• Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs)

  Advances in ICE design can help bridge the gap between established powertrain technologies and newer technologies, such as electric vehicles and hybrids. Designers of ICEs face technical challenges due to changing regulatory environments and customer expectations in areas including engine emissions and engine efficiency. Advances toward incorporating alternative materials, manufacturing, and fuel sources bring with them new challenges, as the new designs must still meet performance and safety requirements and expectations. Exponent's subject-matter expertise and innovative testing capabilities provide essential support for modern ICE design and optimization.

• Test & Engineering Center (TEC)

  Our teams of vehicle, mechanical, and electrical engineers work together with scientists in the biomechanics and human factors practices to provide relevant, rigorous analysis and testing of the performance of traditional and new transportation technologies.

  These state-of-the-art capabilities allow us to keep pace with the automotive and heavy truck industries by performing non-destructive, parametric tests of vehicles equipped with ADAS. 

  Capabilities at the Test & Engineering Center (TEC) in Phoenix, Arizona, include the following:

  • State-of-the-art robotic vehicle control
  • Programmable AB Dynamics™ Global Vehicle Target (GVT)
  • Programmable AB Dynamics™ Global Soft Target (GST)
  • Full suite of programmable AB Dynamics™ Vulnerable Road User (VRU) targets

  Learn more about our work in Emerging Vehicle Technology here.

• Summary of Services

  • Failure analysis 

  • Full-scale testing 

  • ICE analysis and testing 

  • EV battery testing 

  • Standard and custom vehicle crashworthiness testing 

  • Occupant restraint system and component analysis and testing 

  • Regulatory compliance evaluation 

  • Stress analysis 

  • Fatigue and fracture mechanics analysis 

  • FMEA 

  • FEA 

  • CFD 

  • State-of-the-art & industry practice assessment 

  • In-service performance & incident frequency analysis  

  • Intellectual property consulting 

  • Product recall support  

  • Vehicle & component performance analysis 

  • Emerging technology development 

  • Transportation policy support