Video: Car Crash Testing Goes Virtual

Ensuring the safety of automobiles is risky work -- especially for the crash test dummies.

With most vehicles -- and vehicle parts designed digitally -- automakers today have developed a new way of testing what works and what doesn't in their cars: virtual crash testing. All the data making up the car as well a potential crash scenarios can be simulated on a computer.

Because an actual car isn't actually crashed, testers can run simulations over and over again. Researchers can also "peel back" the layers of the car during a test and see what happens to the structural and interior elements of the vehicle.

While these virtual tests provide a lot, they're only about 90 percent accurate, so there's still some metal-on-metal crash tests happening. 

To learn more, check out the video below from CNET: 

(Image via conrado/Shutterstock.com)