The Škoda FABIA completes a rigorous testing programme.

The Škoda FABIA completes rigorous testing programme

The new fourth generation Škoda FABIA has completed a rigorous testing programme, proving that not even mountains are a match for this vehicle.

By using an ordinary-looking trailer called a ‘towing dyno’, engineers can test and create an impressive and rigorous driving experience whilst remaining on a flat terrain. The trailer allows the car to feel a change in resistance, no matter how intense. This test enables engineers to analyse how the car operates in certain situations, such as on rear hills or driving with a trailer of various weights.

This process also monitors how cars deal with demanding weather conditions. Pavel Kolajta, who oversees functional testing of the new Škoda FABIA states that “with the car under the maximum load, it is tested in temperatures as low as -30 °C and over 45 °C, in snow, on ice, in dust, and even in simulated monsoon rains.”

Although these vehicle tests have mostly remained the same for decades, further tests are conducted to ensure each aspect of a vehicle is designed and functions in the way it is intended. For example, a car safety test which is known as ‘stress testing’ has one of the toughest criteria to meet. The main goal and principal is to “protect the lives of the car’s occupants and also other road users like pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists” says Csaba Sirgely, a development engineer responsible for the FABIA model’s safety.

Over the years, testing has improved due to technology and consistently trying to evolve methods and trying new solutions. Vehicle crash tests, airbags and aerodynamics have improved dramatically. For example, according to Sirgely, passenger airbags are activated approximately three hundred times during testing phases. The new Škoda FABIA has spent over a hundred hours within a wind tunnel, whilst three thousand computer simulations took place which took up thousands of hours of computing time.