News
Special visit from Jean Pierre Kraemer, JP Performance GmbH
Artikel "DIE ZEIT"
Professionally, he smashes cars and builds silicone chickens for turbine tests: Peter Schimmelpfennig runs Germany’s largest private crash-test center. We paid him a visit.
An interview by Dagny Lüdemann
Photography: Max Slobodda
First public X-ray crash test
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for High-Speed Dynamics EMI use X-ray diagnostics in crash tests to visualise the behaviour of internal structures during an impact. At the 5th Dummy Crash Test Conference in Münster, 2 - 3 July 2025, they presented the first public X-ray crash test.
A crash lasts only 0.1 seconds, but the consequences are often severe. Even at 27 km/h, serious or fatal injuries can occur, as the impact forces act directly on the occupants while vehicle parts deform. For decades, industry and research have been working to increase the safety of occupants. This also includes understanding the complex processes inside a vehicle during a crash.
The Fraunhofer Institute for High-Speed-Dynamics EMI uses the X-CC method (X-ray-Car Crash) for this purpose — a short-term X-ray technology that makes high-dynamic deformation processes visible under crash conditions. At the Dummy Crash Test Conference, Fraunhofer researchers publicly demonstrated the creation of such X-ray images for the first time. In a live test, a car collided with a pole at a speed of 27 km/h. The X-ray images showed how the vehicle structures deformed and how and when the internal structures interacted. (Text: Freunhofer EMI)
Biofidelic Dummy for American Football – Advancing Safety in High-Impact Sports
Our biofidelic dummy has been specially adapted for American football – designed to deliver realistic, repeatable data on head and shoulder impacts. As both a testing tool and training partner, it provides objective measurements of accelerations during collisions.
This opens up new development opportunities for helmet and protective gear manufacturers, enabling targeted improvements based on real-world impact scenarios.
A major step forward in player safety and product development.
We look forward to collaborating with teams, federations, and equipment developers worldwide.
Specialist Conference on Anti-Terrorism Barriers at CTS
This year's Vehicle.Security.Barrier.Conference featured a diverse program of expert presentations and practical demonstrations at the CTS test site, offering exciting insights into the planning, application, and operation of modern vehicle security barriers.
Special thanks go to the BTU Cottbus – especially to Mr. Detlev Schürmann and Mr. Christian Weicht – for the excellent organization and implementation of this informative and practical event at our crash test facility.
Biofidelic-Dummy with active and passive replacement muscles
Conventional dummies such as the Hybrid-III are stable, sensor-equipped bodies that contribute to increased vehicle safety, but are primarily designed for use as a passenger. With the biofidelic dummy, CTS and HTW have created an innovative development tool that impresses with bone and tissue strength similar to that of the human body. This allows likely human injuries to be realistically simulated in a wide variety of application scenarios within automotive technology and beyond.
The dynamic behavior of a conventional biofidelic dummy during collisions or falls approximates that of an unconscious or deceased person, which can lead to differences in the damage pattern in certain scenarios. For this application, the consortium, in collaboration with the WWU Münster, developed a biofidelic dummy with passive and active muscles. The first step involved equipping the cervical spine with muscles, as this area is particularly susceptible to critical injuries and is frequently the subject of legal disputes.
The result of this development is a dummy that exhibits realistic body tension and authentic movement patterns in crash situations. This allows injury patterns to be analyzed even more precisely and vehicle safety measures to be further optimized.
Lehmkuhl Expert Office Relies on PRIMUS Breakable Biofidelic Dummy
This week, CTS personally welcomed Jochen Lehmkuhl, who received the first PRIMUS Breakable Biofidelic Dummy for Lehmkuhl Expert Office. After the dummy has already been successfully used for reconstruction in complex cases, the company is now further expanding its expertise in this area.
CTS now offers the following new international testing procedure
AS/NZS 3845.2:2017 "Road safety barrier systems and devices Part 2: Road safety devices."
AS/NZS 3845.2, together with MASH 2016, offers the opportunity to market its products in Australia and New Zealand.
Please contact us to have your products tested this year.
