In a Volvo, safety is an integrated solution. It is the interplay between its design and various safety technologies that determines how safe a car is, not the amount of individual components and features. The aim is to design a car that is safe in a global and holistic perspective, with different size of occupants and in different traffic environments. This holistic view is, and always has been, a cornerstone of Volvo Cars' safety philosophy. Our main safety milestones 1944-2008 are listed here.
PREVENTIVE SAFETY
Preventive safety is a very efficient way to reduce the number of incidents in the traffic environment and is therefore an important area of Volvo Cars' research and development. Preventive safety includes the safety technologies that help the Volvo driver to avoid an incident in the first place. Examples of technologies are e.g. Distance Alert and Driver Alert Control. Others support the driver when a collision is about to happen, in order to help the driver to avoid or reduce the concequences of an accident. Examples of such technologies are Collision Warning with Autobrake and DSTC (Dynamic Stability and Traction Control). Real life safety is a key expression in Volvo Cars' safety philosophy and the technologies within the preventive safety area can create significant improvements in real-life-traffic.
PROTECTIVE SAFETY
If an accident should occur, a Volvo is designed to help protect the occupants. The design of the car and its safety technologies such as the safety belt and pretensioners in combination with airbags, inflatable curtains help to make a Volvo one of the world's safest cars. Another aim for Volvo's protective safety development is to help protect unprotected road users e.g. motorcyclists and pedestrians.
CHILD SAFETY
Volvo Car Corporation was, in the beginning of the 1970-ies, the first car manufacturer to develop its own child restraint. Volvo Cars has developed integrated booster cushions and rear-facing child restraints. Volvo Car Corporation was also among the first to develop a virtual pregnant test dummy.
We recommend children up to 3-4 years of age to travel rearward facing. This to enhance support to the spine and head and distribute the forces over a large part of the body in the event of a frontal impact.
For infants up to nine months of age, a baby insert can be added to the child seat. There is also a separate infant seat and child seat with ISOFIX attachments. The ISOFIX system is very convenient since it allows simple installation and removal of the seat.
For the older child, from four to about ten years old (height of 150 cm) the booster cushion is recommended. The booster cushion allows the belt geometry of the adult seat belt to function in a better way with respect to the child occupant. The booster cushion raises the child, so the lap part of the belt can be positioned over the thighs and not over the abdomen. Other advantages of using the booster cushion are that the child, by sitting higher will have a more comfortable belt position over the shoulder and will also have a better view. To help increase the use of child restraint Volvo's new integrated child booster cushions can be set at a choice of two heights.
PERSONAL SECURITY
In an increasingly insecure world, it is important to have control over what happens in one's immediate vicinity, not least when you park your car. The Personal Car Communicator (PCC), is an advanced pocket-sized control centre which provides information which in some circumstances may be of interest to the car owner. A simple push of a button can within a few seconds tell the car owner if the car is locked or unlocked, if the alarm has been triggered or if the alarm has been triggered and someone is inside the car. This can be registered by a sensitive heartbeat sensor and an advanced calculation process.
THE VOLVO CARS SAFETY CENTRE
This unique centre in Gothenburg opened in 2000 and is the most advanced facility of its kind. The advanced laboratory helps the researchers to simulate real-life traffic conditions. The crash laboratory features both a fixed test track and a moving test track, from 0 to 90 degrees. Comprehensive full-scale tests are performed on car-to-car tests, frontal impacts, offset tests, bus or truck as well as other objects in the traffic environment at different speed with different size of the crash test dummies in different crash angles to verify occupant safety according to the real traffic environment.
The Volvo Cars Safety Centre represents a true breakthrough in safety research. The Ford Motor Company and the Volvo Group also use the facility.
MILESTONES IN SAFETY
1944 Safety cage
1944 Laminated windscreen
1959 Three-point seat belts in the front
1960 Padded instrument panel
1964 Prototype of the first rear-facing child seat is tested in a Volvo
1966 Twin-circuit triangular (three-wheel) backup braking system
1966 Crumple zones
1967 Seat belts in the rear
1968 Head restraints front
1969 Three-point inertia-reel seat belts in the front
1972 Three-point seat belts in the rear
1972 Rear-facing child seat and child-proof door locks
1972 Volvo Experimental Safety Car (VESC)
1973 Energy-absorbing steering column
1974 Energy-absorbing bumpers
1974 Petrol tank relocated for enhanced safety
1978 Child booster cushion for children
1982 Under-run protection
1982 Door mirrors of wide-angle type
1984 ABS, anti-locking brakes
1986 Brake lights at eye level
1986 Three-point seat belt in the middle of the rear seat
1987 Seat belt pre-tensioner
1987 Driver's airbag
1990 Integrated booster cushion for children
1991 SIPS, side impact collision protection
1991 Automatic height adjustment of front seat belts
1993 Three-point inertia-reel seat belt in all the seats
1994 SIPS, side-impact airbags
1997 ROPS, Roll-Over Protection System convertible (C70)
1998 WHIPS, protection against whiplash injuries
1998 IC, inflatable curtain
1998 Dynamic Stability and Traction Control
2000 Volvo Cars Safety Centre inaugurated in Göteborg on 29 March
2000 ISOFIX attachments for child seats
2000 Two-stage airbag
2000 Volvo On Call safety system
2001 Volvo Safety Concept Car (SCC)
2002 RSC, Roll Stability Control
2002 ROPS, Roll-Over Protection System SUV (XC90)
2002 Lower cross-member at the front - protection system for oncoming cars
2002 Development of virtual "pregnant" crash-test dummy
2003 IDIS, intelligent system for driver information
2003 Patented new structure at the front reduces collision forces
2003 Bangkok's Traffic Accident Research Centre (TARC) is inaugurated
2004 BLIS, system for information about the blind spot offset rear
2004 DMIC, door-mounted side airbag for convertibles
2005 Volvo's co-driver-system
2005 Multi Lock, combined alcolock and lock for the seat belt and key for speed restriction (research project)
2006 ACC, Adaptive Cruise Control
2006 Personal Car Communicator (PCC)
2006 Collision warning with brake support
2006 Active Bi-Xenon headlamps
2007 Integrated two-stage child booster cushion
2007 CWAB, Collision Warning with Auto Brake
2007 Driver Alert Control
2007 Lane Departure Warning
2008 Alcoguard
2008 Pre-Prepared Restraints
2008 City Safety, low speed collision avoidance
