Inside the vehicle the seatbelt tensioners had already gone to work locking the crash test dummies into their seats. The vehicle slammed into the ditch and was promptly launched something like ten feet in the air. When the vehicle detects a collision, the pedal is allowed to drop away, giving the driver’s leg cushion during the accident.As the bright orange XC90 left end of its test rail, no imagination at all was required. Looking down on this terrain from the stands, it was easy to understand why real-life accidents like this one see kill people. The setup was brutal the XC90 would leave its launch rail traveling at close to 45 mph and slam into a ditch. Holistic safetyĪll of these technologies were on all on full display, as Volvo put on one of the most impressive displays I have seen during my career as an automotive journalist: an XC90 crash test. To prevent the car from rolling, once the XC90 detects that the collision is over, it automatically sets the brakes. When the vehicle detects a collision, the pedal is allowed to drop away, giving the driver’s leg cushion during the accident. To prevent this from happening, Volvo has installed a collapsing brake pedal. This direct connection allows force from the collision to be transferred directly to the joint. Typically during an accident, drivers have their legs firmly planted on the pedal, with stress on their knee joint. One common cause of these sorts of injuries is the brake pedal. This includes the kind of non-lethal but permanently debilitating joint injuries that are unfortunately a common result of accidents. It is important to remember that Volvo also wants to prevent serious injuries. Yet, despite this it is still not a jarring or uncomfortable experience. The speed and force with which the seat belts act is incredible. I had the opportunity to feel what these were like in a demonstration. These tensioners quickly pull the occupant against the seat, holding their spine in the correct position. To ensure that the system works the way it is supposed to, electric seatbelt tensioners activate when the cars onboard sensors detect the car is leaving the road. The base of the seat contains a deformable metal element, designed to crush during an accident, rather than translate vertical g-loads into the occupants’ spine. The XC90’s seats incorporate an ingenious system to absorb the sometimes-fatal energy generated when the vehicle leaves the road. Perhaps the most significant of these advances is also the smallest. The result is the new XC90, which incorporates any number of safety firsts. When Volvo discovered that it had failed to improve in one relatively small area, it decided to make big improvements.So when Volvo discovered that it had failed to improve in one relatively small area, single car run-off road accidents, which aren’t even subject to testing, it decided to make big improvements. ![]() Yet, when the goal is not just to minimize fatalities and injuries, but also to eliminate them, it isn’t enough to be better Volvo has to be perfect. In Sweden, Volvo drivers are only about a third as likely to die or be seriously injured as other drivers. If Volvo’s statistics are to be believed, the company already builds the safest cars in the world by a fair margin. We were at the launch of the car in August, but Volvo wanted us to come back to Sweden to see just how close Volvo is to living up to its goal, not to mention see some XC90s get crashed. This staggering goal is now just five years away, and we are seeing the first concrete step towards its completion: the all-new XC90. One of the first made was a doozey Volvo announced a goal, dubbed ‘Vision 2020,’ which stated that no one should be killed or seriously injured in a new Volvo by the year 2020. And, after having been freed from its American overlord for the first time in 11 years, it was allowed to make independent decisions. In 2010, Volvo Cars was sold to Chinese automaker Gheely by Ford. It is a bold goal, but after seeing the steps the company has taken in person, it is much easier to believe it is possible. The new XC90 is a key step in Volvo’s plan to be injury and fatality free by 2020.
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