Nissan has expanded its engineering center in Farmington Hills with a more than $40 million Safety Advancement Lab for vehicle testing.
The new lab at the Nissan Technical Center North America (NTCNA) brings more efficiency to the vehicle development process and furthers Nissan’s goal of reaching a future with virtually zero fatalities, according to the automaker.
“This expansion underscores Nissan’s commitment to the region and enables us to be a global center of excellence for new vehicle testing,” says Chris Reed, regional senior vice president of research and development for Nissan Americas. “The goal of virtually zero fatalities is always guiding our work. The combination of this new lab plus our passive and active safety technologies can help us reach that goal.”
The Safety Advancement Lab expansion provides Nissan the onsite capability to conduct full vehicle crash testing, vehicle certification, advanced development testing, and benchmarking. Engineers can conduct 48 different passive safety crash test simulations onsite, creating efficiencies in timing and results analysis.
The 116,000-square-foot facility is equipped with high-speed photography systems, data acquisition equipment, and a precise vehicle tow system. The site also includes a test dummy calibration lab, space for preparing vehicles, and a pedestrian safety lab.
With Nissan’s target of 40 percent electric U.S. sales by 2030, the new Safety Advancement Lab is outfitted to evaluate the integrity of high-voltage EV batteries.
“Here in the Safety Advancement Laboratory, we’re focused on passive safety,” says Mike Bristol, director of vehicle safety test engineering at NTCNA. “Our vehicles come equipped with technology to help prevent a crash, but in the event that there is a collision, we’re focused on helping protect customers from injury and evaluating the vehicle structure performance, airbag performance, seatbelt performance and other mechanisms that help protect our customers.”
This expansion brings Nissan’s overall investment in Farmington Hills to more than $310 million since opening in 1991.
