"Shock absorbers are a crucial component of a vehicle's safety. A shock test that shows that shocks are in good working order but are in fact not, could potentially be life threatening," said Sean Staley, control instruments-automotive divisional head of Drive Control.
"Gabriel's Actia Muller shock tester has been adapted to local market conditions and the test results provide a true reflection of the vehicle's shocks. This is based on the extensive software modifications made by our company to the basic product," he said.
Being part of a JSE-listed company, we have an obligation to the public to ensure that our product is suitable for the local market," he said.
"Not all shock absorber mechanical testing systems produce valid results. Gabriel spent over 12 months developing and adapting the Actia Muller system for the SA market.
"We have been alerted by some clients and fitment centres that certain competitive products give suspect results, such as recommending new shocks on almost brand new vehicles."
Staley said that incorrect interpretation of shock tester results can also be a problem. That is why the Gabriel shock tester produces a printed report that cannot be altered.
"What stops the fitment centre from misrepresenting the results to generate a sale. Our system cannot be manipulated to do this," he said.
There is also a problem with handwritten test reports, said Staley. "It lowers the integrity of the test by removing the connection between the test data and the mechanical test. In adapting the system, there needs to be compensation for lower road adherence for light-rear axle configuration vehicles."
Gabriel tested a 2008 VW Golf with an odometer reading of 53,459km and a Hyundai i20 with 32,657km. Both vehicle manufacturers guarantee their vehicles to be free from any mechanical faults for 150,000km (Hyundai) and 120,000km (VW) and the Hyundai was still within the factory warranty.
Both the VW Golf and Hyundai i20 fall under the light rear axle class, which are known to be problematic vehicles to test. The vehicles have a front-wheel drive configuration with a hatchback layout. This causes a heavy forward vehicle weight distribution. Because of this unbalance, the lighter rear axle leans towards lower road adherence.
A competitor's suspension tester failed the VW Golf, based on the selected criteria, as a result of operator error. The vehicle detail was not printed on the test report but was handwritten and, therefore, the integrity of the test report was questioned.
Gabriel's shock tester measures CAP (Phase Damping Coefficient). On the test screen it shows the road adherence factors but this does not form part of pass/fail criteria.
It is this technology that distinguishes the Gabriel shock tester from other machines. Road adherence is influenced by axle mass and tyre pressure, which makes testing of light axle vehicles difficult.
CAP is not affected as much by mass or tyre pressure and allows light axle vehicles to be tested on the same pass/fail criteria. Front and rear-axle compensation on the Gabriel test bench also allows for front and rear axle pass/fail criteria on the same CAP scale, overall giving a significantly more accurate reading.
