How do you ensure the ride quality of a brand new vehicle will be good? Before you have built a prototype of a vehicle in development, can you really know from reading off numbers and looking over computer simulations whether that vehicle will actually drive well?
In order to allow designers to not just see on paper, but to really feel and experience new vehicles before they are built, Volvo did something a little extreme.
Their new chassis simulator, from Vi-Grade, was installed on October 7 of this year, and it's already poised to change the game on developing models.
The Volvo S90, complete with Thor's hammer running lights, is due to join the new XC90 for the 2017 model year. A few camouflaged S90s have been caught on the open road doing test drives, but Volvo is now also running simulated driving tests right inside their headquarters.
The Vi-Grade chassis simulator is one of only a handful in the world, and it is not like the simulator you used in that defensive driving course. Every minute movement, even road vibration, is simulated with such realism, engineers can tweak the specs of the car based on the simulated test drive.
In other words, when the Volvo S90 finally makes its debut in the Sill-TerHar Motors new inventory, you'd better hold on for the best ride of your life.
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