Crash test


The development and updating strategy for a passive safety system like the APC has to require the carrying out of crash-type tests emulating reality and making it possible to obtain data and conclusions.

Along these lines, the APC has been developed by carrying out three types of test:

  • Full scale tests or reproductions of accidents.
  • Out-of-position inflation tests.
  • Pendulum-type tests.



  • Full scale tests  or reproductions of accidents

    Simulated impacts are achieved, conclusions are drawn and event data collected. Recordings made with high-speed cameras and accelerations captured with sophisticated accelerometers allow us to find out about the speed and effectiveness of our system. It must be taken into account that there is an infinite range of environmental conditions and impact configurations in which an accident can happen, and it is therefore impossible to simulate all of them. The APC is designed to operate in the most usual ones and under certain predetermined conditions. The ISO 13232 recommended configurations tested are as follows:




    • Motorcycle’s speed = 25 km/h
    Car’s speed = 0 km/h





    Motorcycle’s speed = 50 km/h
    Car’s speed = 50 km/h


    Motorcycle’s speed = 0 km/h
    Car’s speed = 25 km/h



    Motorcycle’s speed = 0 km/h
    Car’s speed = 25 km/h





















  • Out-of-position inflation tests

    “Out-of-position” tests are designed to test the behaviour of the APC towards the user in unusual positions in which riders might find themselves at the point when the bag inflates. The worst cases, when the inflation of the bag might cause injuries to the user, are reproduced. It is a matter of detecting them, quantifying them and eliminating or minimising them as far as possible.

    There are three head positions with respect to the rider’s shoulders when the inflation of the bag could cause or lead to injury:



Comparison is carried out by repeating the tests with or without the bag inflated. In each of them, the dummy’s neck and head sensors record different values indicating the level of acceleration the dummy’s body receives due to the inflation of the bag. The APC is totally innocuous in these three static positions. During an accident, the accelerations suffered by the neck and head due to the violence of the impact can make those caused by the inflation of the back insignificant, so we can give assurances that we are testing the worst cases.


  • Pendulum-type tests

    Finally, after each development of the bag, pendulum tests have been carried out. These take the elongation of the dummy’s neck to extreme values, simulating a rupture of the cervical area. The videos are very explicit in this sense, showing the effectiveness of the APC and its positive effects on the rider’s level of protection.