Repetitive and Physical: 90 Years of Durability Testing

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Repetitive and Physical: 90 Years of Durability Testing

GM Milford Proving Ground milestone birthday today

2014-10-24

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DETROIT (Friday, October 24, 2014) – In 18 months, the durability team at General Motors’ Milford Proving Ground can put a vehicle through an entire lifecycle. Durability tests are long, repetitive and physically demanding.

“In 90 years, what hasn’t changed is that durability testing is physical,” said Stephen Jenkins, director, Global Proving Ground Operations, Test Labs and Vehicle Material Engineering. “We can mathematically calculate how well a part should hold up under certain conditions, but it isn’t until we get a driver in the product and test over and over again that we can be sure.
Here are some of the benchmarks a vehicle must endure before the Milford durability team will release it for production.

  • 160,000 kilometres of customer use – the team drives a test vehicle up to 40,000 kilometres, though it is in such extreme conditions that it represents 160,000 kilometres of customer use
  • Extreme tests – Belgian Block Loop, pothole drives, chatter bumps, twist ditches, speed bumps and more are driven for entire days testing various parts of the vehicle
  • Humidity chambers – Built in the late 1960s with new ones added in the 1980s, every car is soaked in humidity chambers. On numerous occasions cars will go in these corrosion booths for hours at a time and endure high temperatures and humidity 

“We are always pushing ourselves to test even the smallest part of a vehicle to ensure that the entire product from the engine down to the screws and bolts are tough enough to handle the driving our customers need,” Jenkins said.

About General Motors in Canada

Headquartered in Oshawa, Ontario, General Motors of Canada Limited (GMCL) employs more than 9,000 people across the country and is a recognized leader in green manufacturing.  GMCL markets the full range of fuel-efficient Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles and related services through Canada’s largest automotive dealer network. More information regarding GMCL models can be found at www.gm.ca, or by following @GMCanada on Twitter.  

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