Hyundai breaks ground for Safety Test and Investigation Lab

Hyundai Motor America is creating an industry-unique testing zone to address root cause crash investigations and electric vehicle/future product analysis activities at its Michigan R&D campus west of Detroit. “The Safety Test and Investigation Laboratory (STIL) will put a focus on speed, speed, speed in understanding what happened,” in a crash or component failure, said John Robb, president of Hyundai America Technical Center Inc. (HATCI). STIL is targeted to be operational in the fall of 2023.

SAE Media interviewed Robb and other Hyundai officials at the groundbreaking for STIL, a $51.6 million facility being constructed at the automaker's southeast Michigan technical hub. Hyundai officials said 160 engineers, including those in electrical, mechanical, materials and safety, will be hired to work at the new facility. STIL will feature vehicle inspection bays, a field-crash investigation lab, a 1,640-ft (500-m) asphalt test track, a vehicle-dynamics area and a high-voltage battery lab with test pad.