Volvo's shock safety pledge

By Mat Watson

28th May 2010

“NOBODY will be killed or seriously injured in a new Volvo by 2020.” That amazing statement is the bold claim made by the firm’s chief operating officer as it seeks to regain its safety crown.

And it will be achieved by a combination of further improvements in crash protection and by trailblazing developments in technology which avoid accidents happening in the first place.

One clever new system is thought to include the adaptation of the new S60’s pedestrian avoidance system, so a car brakes if it detects runaway animals.

Another breakthrough uses advanced GPS sat-nav and GSM mobile phone technology to allow cars to effectively “see round corners” and communicate to surrounding vehicles about impending dangers. And the inspiration for this safety revolution? The horse! “When you want to gallop, it does what you want it to. But if it spotsa danger you haven’t, it will stop,” said safety manager Peter Janevik.

The 2020 claim was made by chief operating officer Steven Armstrong at the launch of the S60, the first to include pedestrian avoidance.

The system uses a combination of camera and radar to identify pedestrians likely to step in front of the car, before slamming on the brakes if they do. It’s a £1,450 option on the ES version, or £1,250 on the SE. Janevik is keen to point out that all future active safety systems would never take control away from humans. “These devices will only be there to help when needed. They won’t intervene against your wishes,” he said.

Volvo is also working on ‘road train’ technology, which links vehicles via radar to let the driver work or even sleep at the wheel. It will do a trial later this year, using adaptive cruise control technology to link up vehicles. It has a long history of safety firsts, including the invention of the three-point seatbelt in 1959.

If the ‘no deaths’ claim seems far fetched, Volvo was praised for achieving just that in 1994 by the US insurance organisation the Institute of Highway Safety. It concluded that between 1989 and 1993, no driver of the 240 saloon had died in an accident, making it the car with the single lowest fatality rate at that time.