Koenigsegg hypercars rarely get driven on the streets. Yet, each one of them is designed and manufactured to exceed all safety standards like IIHC and Euro NCAP.
Before a single vehicle rolls out of the factory in Ängelholm to meet its lucky (and wealthy) owner, one specimen travels to Spain, where it goes through an unbearable series of test crashes, simulating all perceivable collisions and ensuring the passengers will remain safe and healthy.
The video is a testament to how durable these hypercars really are. It’s not just about top-speed records. The Regera will take anything – jump a curb, a speedbump, hit a stationary object and still come out rolling.
Carbon fiber is an incredible material. Just look at the body panels getting pummeled by sledgehammers with barely any visible damage. Try that on aluminum or steel panels and you’ll see a dramatic difference.
Of course, crash testing is nothing new. Big enterprises, like Volkswagen, would sacrifice dozens of cars to ensure passenger safety standards are met.
Koenigsegg is different. A Regera costs $2 million and all of its planned production is limited to 80 units at a rate of 10 – 20 per year. We can’t imagine the company destroying their entire annual production just crash testing. Instead, a single Regera is used for all tests.
The carbon fiber monocoque is designed to withstand all crash tests and remain intact. It takes almost 48,000 lb-ft (65,000 Nm) of torque to twist the monocoque a single degree. It’s incredibly strong.
Everything else gets destroyed in the process of testing, then rebuilt, then destroyed again. The engineers have to design complex procedures to gather data and test multiple systems with a single crash. It’s an arduous process. However, given how expensive it is to build a new Regera, it actually saves Koenigsegg both time and money.
Another interesting aspect of safety testing is the airbag deployment. Koenigsegg uses a sophisticated system that calculates the optimum volume, strength, and timing of the airbags. In addition, the car differentiates a life-threatening collision from just slamming the doors too hard and halts the airbags when they are not required.
To do that, the system reads a number of parameters in real time as the crash occurs:
- The strength and direction of the impact
- Passenger size and position in the vehicle
- Seatbelt engagement