[S2!!!]

Swedish car maker, Volvo is known to provide the highest levels of safety equipments in their vehicles. It is one car manufacturer that spends significant amounts on R & D to make their already safe cars even safer for the passengers as well as others. A new safety tech - run-off road protection package, will feature (for the first time on any car) on the new XC90 SUV.

Run-off road is an accident type caused by driver inattentiveness, fatigue or poor weather conditions. Spine injuries are common in such scenarios.

This run-off road protection includes two crucial aspects: First, when the car's sensors detect that the vehicle has veered off the road, the front safety belts electrically tighten to the maximum, to ensure that the occupants remain in position. The safety belts can retract 100 mm safety belt in 0.1 seconds. Then, to avoid spinal injuries, the seat and seat frame deforms mechanically to cushion vertical forces which may be experienced when the car lands hard on the terrain. By ensuring that the occupant is in an upright position, along with the cushioning provided, it can reduce vertical forces by up to one-third. This will reduce the possibility of the most common spine injuries caused due to the impact.

Volvo has simulated 3 tests - 'Ditch' - designed to replicate bouncing movement, 'Airborne' - designed to replicate a hard landing after an impact and 'Rough terrain' which creates a bumpy ride that produces substantial lateral rolling motions. For these tests, 'Thor' - the most advanced crash test dummy is used, equipped with flexible shoulder area to create a more human-like movement in a run-off road scenario.

These new technologies developed by Volvo are in tandem with the company's vision where it claims that no one will be killed or seriously injured in a new Volvo in 2020.

[GTO]

Amazing! Airbags to protect your skull are commonplace now, but the spine is an equally critical body part.

Loved this comment by Lotta Jakobsson, Senior Technical Specialist Safety at Volvo Cars Safety Centre:

Committing to safety is not about passing a test or getting a ranking. It is about finding out how and why crashes and injuries occur and then developing the technology to prevent them. To reach our Vision 2020, we have to cover all accident types that occur in real-life traffic.

There are not yet any regulatory or rating tests to examine a car’s ability to handle run-off road crashes.

[ajaypjayaraj]

Originally Posted by GTO

There are not yet any regulatory or rating tests to examine a car’s ability to handle run-off road crashes.

Regulatory bodies are mostly reactive, as they set minimum standards for the improvement in safety, quality, etc. after something bad has happened to grab their attention which demands improvement. In some countries, even that does not happen effectively. Makers who are worried only about sales wouldn't help the situation either.

There are companies that are pro-active and perform above these minimum standards set by regulatory bodies and kinda sets the benchmark. When it comes to safety, Volvo is definitely one of them.

Just take their V40 for example. Though it did not sell much in India (for no fault of the car, which is very common trend in our market), cars sold at twice its cost cannot match the safety this car offers. There is a lot in that car, especially structural safety wise, beyond that has ever been advertised.

Every safety innovation Volvo comes up with talks a lot about company's dedication to making their cars more and more safer, and positively justifies Volvo's "Vision 2020".

[volkman10]

Volvo Cars scores again in safety- Earns Top Result in 2015 IIHS Top Safety Pick .

Volvo Cars has once again performed very well in the annual IIHS Top Safety Pick+ Awards. In this year's honours list four Volvo cars made the Top Safety Pick+ grade: the S60, V60, S80 and XC60. Volvo Cars was the only European brand with more than two models on the list.

The Tops Safety Pick+ award criteria have grown tougher in the last twelve months, with increased demands around the standard for front crash prevention. To meet the new criteria cars making the Top Safety Pick+ grade must offer the ability to stop or slow down without driver intervention before hitting a target in IIHS tests at 12 mph, 25 mph or both.
Volvo Car’s front crash avoidance technology, City Safety, which is standard in all new Volvos, effectively helps to detect and brake automatically to mitigate or prevent a car to car rear end collision without driver intervention. Volvo’s City Safety technology has been shown to reduce insurance claim frequency by 16 percent

http://www.pddnet.com/news/2014/12/v...op-safety-pick