GM has been testing its vehicles in Milford, Michigan for 100 years now.

Since September 25, 1924, the General Motors testing center in Milford, Michigan, has been the stage for the most extreme treatments that vehicles can endure. Hundreds of cars, trucks, utility vehicles, commercial vehicles, as well as tanks and lunar vehicles, have been subjected to tests aimed at refining them. Today, GM wishes to recall the history of this imposing complex, the oldest of its kind in the industry.

The Milford testing center covers nearly 16.2 square kilometers and has nearly 240 kilometers of roads used to test GM vehicles. It features various facilities, a 4.7 km high-speed track, steep hills, paved roads, gravel and dirt roads, as well as a 0.3 square kilometer asphalt area known as Black Lake.

These facilities opened in September 1924 at the initiative of Alfred P. Sloan, then president of GM. The facility was created to analyze vehicles in controlled conditions. Until World War II, a multitude of new testing methods were devised to evaluate a vehicle’s speed, maneuverability, climbing abilities, fuel consumption, as well as durability, braking effort required by the driver, and various aspects of active and passive safety. Over time, collision and rollover tests were also developed to assess vehicle damage and improve passenger protection.

During the war years, Milford played a crucial role in the “arsenal of democracy” by testing tanks and other military vehicles for the U.S. Army. During this period, GM engineers tested over 680 different military vehicles and drove them for more than 1.4 million kilometers.

In the post-war era, GM expanded its testing center and built many new roads. In 1954, its 82 kilometers of test roads led to over 16 million kilometers driven by the tested vehicles. Then, in 1964, a 7.2 km circular test track and the Salt Splash Road were built, followed by an “ice surface” and the Black Lake dynamic testing area in 1968.

In the 1970s, the emergence of new standards for emissions and fuel efficiency led GM to develop new technologies such as catalytic converters and fuel injection systems, which were tested at Milford. In terms of safety, GM also increased efforts and ingenuity in anthropomorphic test dummies for crash tests, as well as airbags, child booster seats, and anti-lock brakes.

The text has been translated into English.