Volvo leads the way in car safety

Volvo Car Corporation’s determination to build the safest cars in the world has been acknowledged by several independent crash tests during the past year. These results come as no surprise to the company’s safety experts.

“Our own, extensive accidet data base shows that the risk of being injured in one of our latest car models has been reduced with around 50 percent since the year 2000. And we are working on new technologies that will bring the figure down even further,” says Thomas Broberg, Senior Safety Advisor at Volvo Car Corporation.

Volvo Car Corporation’s knowledge-driven approach to car safety is based on input from real-life traffic; including findings by the company’s own Traffic Accident Research team, which has been operative for more than 40 years.

“A holistic approach and real-life traffic conditions are always the starting-point for our safety work. Our massive database with input from actual road accidents helps us focus on the areas where new technology creates significant results in real-life-traffic,” says Thomas Broberg.

Auto brake results in fewer accidents

The efficiency of Volvo Car Corporation’s approach has been highlighted several times recently.

Earlier this year, the benefits of the City Safety technology were documented in an IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety) report, which stated a collision frequency reduction with up to 22 percent.

A similar study by the Swedish insurance company Volvia shows that Volvos equipped with automatic braking are involved in 22 percent fewer rear end accidents than cars without auto brake.

The final report from the EuroFOT research projects concludes that a car with adaptive cruise control and collision warning cuts the risk of colliding with the vehicle in front on a motorway by up to 42 percent.

Several top rating results

The effectiveness of Volvo’s holistic approach to crash safety has also been confirmed by several independent tests.

In the latest report from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the Volvo S60 earns the best rating in a new small offset frontal crash test in 40 mph (64 km/h).

Last year, no less than five Volvo models - the C30, S60, S80, XC60 and XC90 - earned a IIHS Top Safety Pick.

Focus on assisting the driver

Future technologies include improvements of existing safety systems as well as new solutions. Volvo Car Corporation’s present research focuses on three main areas:

Autonomous Driving Support uses data from a camera and radar sensors to make sure that the car automatically follows the vehicle in front in a slow-moving queue.

Intersection Support alerts and automatically brakes for crossing traffic when necessary.

Animal Detection is designed to detect and automatically brake for large animals, such as elks and large stags.

Groundbreaking safety in the all-new V40

The all-new Volvo V40 is an excellent example of Volvo Car Corporation’s ability to turn real-life traffic knowledge into groundbreaking technology.

It features Pedestrian Detection with full auto brake - as well as the improved City Safety, which now operates at speeds up to 50 km/h. Among the new features are world-first Pedestrian Airbag Technology, Lane Keeping Aid with haptic auto steering, Active High Beam and a Cross Traffic Alert radar system at the rear.

“The risk of being involved in an accident or being injured in a Volvo is continuously reduced. We keep on moving towards our safety vision that nobody should die or suffer serious injuries in a new Volvo car by the year 2020,” concludes Thomas Broberg.