What's New: October 2024

October 1, 2024

Ohio auto research center adding $24M + crash test facility

Ohio’s automotive proving ground is getting even more proving ground.

Transportation Research Center Inc., the East Liberty-based vehicle research and testing organization, is adding a new 66,000-square-foot Impact Laboratory, which will expand its ability to study and test vehicle and highway safety technology.

The center broke ground on the new facility Thursday. It’s a three-year construction project.

CEO Brett Roubinek said the current lab, which will continue to be used until the new one is ready, has been TRC's hub for crash simulations for 40 years.

"This new lab is going to carry us for the next 40 years," he said.

The expansion was made possible by a $24 million economic development grant from the state.

Roubinek said the grant covers the "lion's share" of the cost with TRC making up the rest.

Features of the new facility include both a new classic crash testing operation as well as an additional simulator focused on seats, seatbelts and related safety aspects; and new robotic cameras and sensors plus other advanced technologies to test and study high-impact collision scenarios.

TRC is marking 50 years in 2024, having opened in 1974. It is an independent mobility testing and research operation. Though the land is owned by neighboring Honda and it does much work with that automaker, the facility rents space and works with a wide variety of other manufacturers and clients as well.

It’s worked with more than 1,000 clients over the decades ranging from auto manufacturers to governments to researchers and educators. Roubinek said the facility sees around 400 clients in any given year.

TRC has grown to a 4,500-acre campus today, employing 500 engineers and specialists. Its grounds feature a number of closed road courses mimicking real world scenarios, a 7.5-mile high-speed oval test track and a 50-acre vehicle dynamics area.

In recent years it has added the 540-acre SmartCenter, which is complex dedicated to the study of autonomous and connected vehicles.

It's played a role in the development of several automotive safety technologies including airbags, anti-lock brakes and adaptive cruise control – all of which were tested and refined at TRC before hitting public roads.

-Columbus Business First, October 4, 2024