TNO, Netherlands

TNO Automotive (TNO) – THE NETHERLANDS

TNO Automotive is part of the Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) in The Netherlands. TNO is an independent, not for profit organisation with 13 research institutes and 4800 employees. TNO Automotive has direct access to the wealth of knowledge, expertise and facilities available within the TNO organisation that enables the Institute to provide clients with a comprehensive R&D and consultancy service. Large-scale multidisciplinary projects can be undertaken. TNO Automotive has a staff of 300 highly skilled scientists and engineers, more than half of whom have at least a bachelor's or a master's degree. All projects are carried out in state-of-the-art laboratories, which are equipped with computer-controlled facilities. Frequent use is made of mathematical simulation techniques. A number of special in-house software packages have been developed for this purpose. By integrating experimental methods with simulation techniques, efficient use is made of available resources.

TNO Automotive performs a wide range of contract research and development work on road vehicles and internal combustion engines. Much of the institute's research is concerned with the characteristics and performance of vehicles related to safety, energy and environmental issues. On the development side, particular emphasis is placed on product development studies and optimising the performance of components and vehicles. The Crash-Safety Centre is one of the divisions of TNO Automotive and offers a unique combination of expertise in accident analysis, impact biomechanics, crash dummy development, experimental crash facilities and computer simulation techniques (including the simulation software MADYMO developed by TNO which is used world-wide for active and passive safety virtual testing).

Currently, accident analysis is performed within TNO by a team of 5 to 8 persons. TNO started the in-depth accident investigations and accident analysis activities in 1998. Since then the accident investigation group collected several hundreds of accidents for different kinds of (European) projects. Accidents were collected for motorcycles, mopeds, passenger cars, heavy trucks and city trams. Statistical analyses were performed on both this in-depth data as well as on the general national statistics of The Netherlands. These activities resulted in several scientific publications.