Modern cars have to withstand all manner of temperature extremes, being required to operate anywhere from the desert to the Arctic Circle. However, while real world testing is absolutely necessary to sign a vehicle off, manufacturers like Ford also have special chambers that do a great job of simulating conditions.
The Climate Chamber, as it’s known within Ford, is basically a dyno placed in a big oven/freezer. Its role is to provide a controlled environment where the car’s parameters can be observed as temperatures are cranked up or down.
They can also simulate snow and thus see what kind of buildup problems it could create. It still can’t realistically replace actual winter and hot weather testing, but having such a chamber offers invaluable insight as to how each component reacts in real time and under the attentive eyes of what we imagine is a team of engineers operating it.