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An important part of vehicle development are design evaluation and validation processes based on testing in the laboratory. At present there are many complete vehicle, body and suspension road simulator configurations. They all are compromised with respect to complexity and cost. They all have certain advantages and disadvantages. Examples for the evolution of such systems will be discussed. It becomes apparent that new solutions are required if not just the optimization of components and subassemblies is aimed at but the exact evaluation of service life in terms of proving ground kilometers. The new concept is a complete car test rig with an active restraint system which restrains the car during maneouvre load simulation and leaves it otherwise relatively uninfluenced. The test rig has in total 20 actuators, four at each wheel and another four at the restrained system. This test rig will be described in some detail.

Wheel force transducers (WFT) play an increasing role in endurance evaluation of road vehicles, ride and handling optimization, tire development and vehicle dynamics. With paper 980262 part I of an investigation of seven WFT–systems was presented. After a general evaluation two systems were compared in more detail. From a more basic interest deeper consideration was given to Angle Error Correction and material selection. This paper reports on part II of the investigation. The general evaluation of present systems on the market is updated and refined including new systems and updated versions. Thus an unique and quick overview is provided mirroring the present status of WFT technology. Special attention is given to systems best suited for applications in tire development, for driving dynamics optimization, active safety and active suspension development as well as in the ride and handling area.