When General Motors acquired the 2,300 acres of land in Michigan for the Milford Proving Ground back in 1923, nobody understood the importance of the industry's first dedicated automobile testing facility. Opened 90 years ago, the complex now covers over 4,000 acres, employs 4,800 people and boasts with over 100 buildings and a lot of facilities.
When it opened in 1924, engineers used it at first for safety testing, although proper tools and technology weren't available then, nor crash test dummies. Just take a look at the video below and you'll see that most test subjects of yesteryear were daredevil human beings. However, engineers these days no longer ride the running boards until seconds before impact. Inside the vehicles are heavily instrumented anthropomorphic test devices – the dummies.
“The technology used today to research vehicles is far superior to the past, but the intention stays the same, put vehicles to the test in the name of safety,” declared Jack Jensen, the General Motors engineering group manager for the dummy lab. “We have more sophisticated dummies, computers to monitor crashes and new facilities to observe different types of potential hazards. All those things together give our engineers the ability to design a broad range of vehicles that safely get our customers where they need to go.”
Great intentions there, Jack, but the company has recalled from the beginning of 2014 some 30 million vehicles over the notorious ignition switches and other potentially deadly faults. General Motors models may be designed with safety in mind at this iconic proving ground, but if you are a cheapskate with certain parts that may fail in time like the ignition switches, all that effort will ultimately be in vain.
Nevertheless, the Milford Proving Ground is the place where a few industry-firsts were put to the test and developed. To highlight a few of the most important from the past and today, these are the:
Crash Test dummies - In the early 1980s, GM’s safety team developed several dummies, including the Hybrid III, which became the universal standard for frontal crash testing and remains so today across the globe.
Rollover test facility - GM was the first North American auto manufacturer to build a rollover test facility, which opened in 2006.
Front center air bag - GM was the first manufacturer to introduce the feature in 2013 on all full size crossovers, it will also be on the all-new 2015 full size utilities.
Belt assurance system -The industry-first keeps drivers from shifting from “park” if not buckled up, will be launching in Q4 of 2014 on a limited group of fleet vehicles.
Patent-pending child restraint seat cushion extension - A segment safety first, the 2015 Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon jump seat headrest can be removed from the back of the seat on inserted into the base to give the child seat more area to sit on.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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