Car safety is a subject which has attracted increasing attention in recent years and Volvo naturally welcomes this trend. It means that more and more people are becoming aware of the safety aspects when they select cars and then travel in them. The result is that the number of people who are injured or killed in the traffic can be limited.

It is Volvo's aim to design and build cars which help the driver in every way possible to avoid an accident and reduce the risk of injury if an accident occurs. The safety work at Volvo is concentrated at our Safety Centre where some 90 people are involved in developing safer Volvo cars.
There are a number of groups at the Safety Centre and they are all vital units in the successful development of safety.

TRAFFIC ACCIDENT RESEARCH

Volvo is one of the few car manufacturers in the world with its own Traffic Accident Research team. During the past 25 years, Volvo's experts have investigated more than 25,000 traffic accidents in the real-life traffic environment.

To obtain a correct knowledge and understanding of what happens to a car in an accident, a detailed examination is required at the scene of the accident.

When an accident resulting in personal injuries and involving a Volvo takes place regardless when within a one-hundred-kilometer radius of Göteborg, the Traffic Accident Research team is alerted by the emergency service centre, the tow truck driver or the police. At the accident scene the investigation team carries out a detailed examination which is documented using measurements, interviews and photographs.

These in-depth studies provide both a knowledge and understanding of the complex mechanisms involved in accidents of various types and a picture of the way vehicles and the systems in these vehicles function and influence the risk of injury to their occupants.
The in-depth studies are combined with investigations in which we collect extensive information about all the accidents which are reported to our own insurance company in Sweden. This enables us to define the probability of various situations occurring and to give priority to the most important areas when we develop new cars. All the data is stored in a database which currently contains information about more than 40,000 occupants.
 
 

 PROPERTY MANAGEMENT
At the group known as Property Management, new safety technology is being developed in cars as a result of continuous collaboration with the relevant design departments. The group makes sure that systems are developed which enable Volvo to realize its objective of being the world leader when it comes to crash safety.
These activities also involve providing the designers with information relating to components which are not direct safety systems but which nonetheless affect the safety of car passengers, such as panels and controls inside the car. The group is also involved in preparatory developments in the field of safety and this is where the foundations of future safety systems in cars are laid.

TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT & STRATEGY
At the Technical Development & Strategy group, the technology which is used in the actual test programmes is developed. The internal requirements we impose on our products and the methods which ensure that these requirements are met are developed here. The staff at the group include experts on biomechanics - the science relating to the way human beings withstand the stress generated in a collision.

CRASH TESTING

The actual tests are conducted by the Crash Testing group and the Crash Analysis group which conducts the large number of tests. These tests involve complete cars and individual components and system.

At the preparation workshop, all the special equipment which is used, such as high-speed cameras, measurement equipment etc., is fitted and removed. The dismantling of a car after a test is documented in detail in words and pictures to enable the technicians to evaluate the function of various safety components and systems.

Crash dummies are important staff members when it comes to the safety work. The dummies in the test vehicles at Volvo's crash laboratory are sophisticated instruments which measure the loads imposed on different parts of the body during an impact. In principle, it would be true to say that we attempt to interpret occupants from these dummies. Or, to put it another way, to obtain a basis for assessing the scale of the injuries a human being would have incurred in a similar crash. This knowledge plays an essential part in the work of developing safer cars.

Every year, some 150 tests involving complete cars are conducted on the large test track. Most of them are frontal collisions, side and rear impacts. Evaluating the safety characteristics of cars in many different types of accident and at different speeds, not only those situations governed by legal requirements, is a central factor in Volvo's safety philosophy. The test track is 80 metres long and the maximum test speed is 90 km/h. Advanced measurement equipment and high-speed cameras are used to measure and document what happens to the car and the occupants during the collision, which is over in just a few split seconds.

In the crash simulator, which is also known as the "sled", crashes are simulated by rapidly accelerating different car bodies. The seatbelt system and airbags are evaluated in these tests. The simulator is flexible and between 400 and 500 tests are conducted every year.

At the component laboratory, sub systems and components which are covered by safety requirements of various types are tested. The tests include impact tests on interior equipment. High-speed videos are used to follow the sequence of events in detail.
Finally, there is also a low-speed laboratory where tests are conducted on the characteristics of cars in low-speed impacts.
CRASH ANALYSIS
The Crash Analysis group plans and analyses the tests. A great deal of time is spent actually in the preparation phase of the tests. The tests are then analyzed, carefully and the analysis reports are an important part of the continuous efforts that are made to give Volvo cars characteristics which guarantee a high crash safety level. These analyses take the form of detailed and comprehensive in-depth studies of the causes and the effect on the crashed system. These crash test methods are being refined and improved continuously to make the test results as reliable as possible.

Safety features introduced by Volvo and subsequently adopted as legal requirements:

Year of   introduction   Legislation   USA  Legislation   Sweden  Defroster in windscreen  1954 1968 1968  Windscreen washers  1956 1968 1968  3-point belt 1959 1968 1969  Head restraints front 1968 1969 -

 

Safety Legislation

• 1944
• 
  Safety cage around the passenger compartment
• 1956
• 
  Split steering column
  Safety-padded dashboard
• 1957
• 
  Attachments for 2-point belts at the front
• 1958
• 
  Attachments for rear safety belts
• 1965
• 
  Brake servo and pressure-sensitive relief valves
  Volvos child safety research begins
• 1966
• 
  Disc brakes all round
  Crumple zones front and rear
  Collapse function in the split steering column
  Safety door locks
• 1967
• 
  Safety belts on the rear seat
• 1968
• 
  Head restraints front
• 1969
• 
  Inertia reel belts
  Heated rear screen
• 1972
• 
  Child seat
  Childproof locks on rear doors
• 1973
• 
  Side collision protection
  Collapse function in the steering wheel
• 1974
• 
  Energy-absorbing shock absorbers
  Energy-absorbing steering column
  Isolated fuel tank and protection in a rear-end collision

   

• 1975
• 
  Day running lamps
  Warning lamps
• 1979
• 
  Headlamp washers/wipers
  Wide angle rear view mirror
• 1982
• 
  Safety belts combined with anti-submarining guard
  Fog lamps rear-front
  Warning lamps on open doors
  Fuel tank in front of the rear axle
• 1984
• 
  ABS-anti-locking brakes
• 1985
• 
  ETC-electronic wheel spin control
• 1986
• 
  New child safety program
  Brake lights in rear screen
  Three-point belt on the centre rear seat
• 1987
• 
  Airbag
• 1989
• 
  Mechanical seat belt pretensioner
• 1990
• 
  Integrated child safety seat in the rear seat
• 1991
• 
  SIPS/Side Impact Protection System
  The self-adjusting safety belt
• 1992
• 
  New safety improvements in rear seats in estate
• 1994
• 
  SIPS-bag
  DARR-Volvo Digital Accident Research Recorder
• 1995
• 
  DSA - Dynamic Stability Assistance

   

• 1997
• 
  ROPS - Roll Over Protection System

Volvo is an award winning car.
On this page we've collected the most recent awards and designations.
 
1997

• Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (USA)
• 
  Head restraints in all 1997 Volvo models scored the highest rating
   
• European New Car Assessment Program (Euro-NCAP)
• 
  Volvo S40, safest car in the midsize segment
  EURO NCAP Crash Tests II
   
• Road and Traffic Authority and NRMA (Australia)
• 
  Volvo 850, safest car in Australia
   
• Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (USA)
• 
  Volvo 940/960 and Volvo 850 scored in the safest segment among sedans when it comes to fatality risk.
   
• Highway Loss Data Institute (USA)
• 
  Volvo 940/960 scored in the safest segment among midsize wagons
   
• The Prince Michael Safety Award (Great Britain)
• 
  Safety performance Volvo S40 and Volvo V40
   

1996

• NHTSA (USA)
• 
  Award for safety engineering excellence
   
• Autofact International (USA)
• 
  First rank in the following classes:
      ·Sideairbags
      ·Crashtest results
      ·Safety research
      ·Component quality
   
• Folksam Insurance Company (Sweden)
• 
  Volvo 700, 800, 800 rated in safest class
   
• Folksam Insurance Company (Sweden)
• 
  Volvo 850, safest car in rear end collisions
   
• Stern (Germany)
• 
  Volvo 850, safest head restraints
   
• Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (USA)
• 
  Volvo 940/960, next lowest fatality risk of all cars in the USA in its class
   
• Highway Loss Data Institute (USA)
• 
  Volvo 850, scored in the safest segment among midsize sedans
  Volvo 940/960, safest midsize wagon
   

  1995

• Auto Motor und Sport (Germany)
• 
  Best imported car in the intermediate class
   
• ADAC, German motoring organisation (Germany)
• 
  850, the safest car in the world
   
• Auto Express New Car Honours (Great Britain)
• 
  850, best car in the estate car category
   
• Paul Pietsch-Preis, Engineering and Design Award (Germany)
• 
  The SIPS-bag
   
• Motormännens riksförbund, Swedish
• 
  motoring organisation (Sweden)
  SIPS-bag in all 850 Volvo Cars
   
• Highway Loss Data Institute (U.S)
• 
  Volvo 940/960 Estate, best medium size luxury car
   
• Highway Loss Data Institute (U.S)
• 
  Volvo 850, second best midsize 4-door car

  1994

• The NHTSA's (U.S.)
• 
  Award for Safety Engineering Excellence
   
• The Prince Michael Safety Award (Great Britain)
• 
  The SIPS bag
   
• The Windscreen O'Brien Achievement (Australia)
• 
  The child safety features of the Volvo 850
   
• Highway Loss Data Institute (U.S.)
• 
  Volvo 850, best midsize 4-door car
   
• Highway Loss Data Institiute (U.S)
• 
  Volvo 940/960 Estate, best medium size luxury car
   
• Folksam Insurance company (Sweden)
• 
  Volvo 900 cited in best class
   
• Insurance Institute for Highway safety (U.S.)
• 
  The Volvo 240, lowest driver fatality rate in the United States
   
• Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (U.S)
• 
  The Volvo 740, the second lowest driver fatality rate in the United States.

CIRCLE OF SAFETY

WHIPS - Whiplash Protection Studie
Inflatable curtain - new Volvo technology for head protection.

When Volvo develops its cars human beings are the starting point. We have been applying this design philosophy since the company was founded in 1927. Our safety work can best be described as a circle a continuous process which starts and ends in the traffic environment.
Traffic accidents and the way Volvo cars behave in the traffic are the starting-point for our safety work We set up our own Traffic Accident Research team back in 1970. Since then, we have investigated more than 25,000 accidents. The accident data that is collected is used to develop our internal test methods, among other things. After all, the purpose of the crash tests which are conducted at our laboratory is to recreate the real-life situation. Our internal requirements - which are more numerous and complex than the current legal requirements - are based on this work. As we focus on human beings, our work largely centres around bio-mechanics; in other words the way injuries are caused, the loads human beings are able to withstand and the way humans can be protected.
The next link in the chain is product development. We are working to develop components, systems and complete designs which comply with the requirements. This is achieved through the closest possible collaboration between designers and safety experts.
When a new model is developed, crash tests are conducted continuously to ensure that the design solutions comply with the established requirements.
It goes without saying that we have to make sure that the characteristics we include in our designs also function effectively in production. For this reason, we constantly select production ears at random for crash tests.
With these production vehicles, we are back where we started in the traffic. The circle closes - and a new one begins.

WHIPLASH - volvo's new safety challenge

Volvo is taking up yet another major challenge in the field of safety: whiplash injuries.
A new type of car seat is being developed in a research project entitled WHIPS (Whiplash Protection Study). The objective is to achieve a substantial reduction in injuries in low-speed rear-end collisions.

Half of all the traffic injuries that result in invalidity are caused by whiplash, which mainly occurs in rear-end collisions. Whiplash injuries arise when the head is thrown backwards in conjunction with a rear-end impact. Common symptoms include neck pain, numbness and difficulty in concentrating.

High priority
For ten years, Volvo has been involved in in-depth studies of neck injuries together with medical expertise. These studies have provided the platform for the design of Volvo's car seats.

In several international surveys, Volvo cars - the Volvo 850, for example - have proved to be in a class of their own in terms of safety in rear-end collisions. Volvo will not be satisfied with this, however. There is still much to do to reduce the human suffering caused by whiplash injuries.

The WHIPS research project has therefore been give top priority in Volvo's safety research. The company's safety engineers are working on a completely new seat concept with the objective of achieving a significant reduction in whiplash injuries in rear-end collisions at low speeds - which is how most of these accidents happen.

New seat for greater protection
This is how the new seat concept works:

If the car is hit from behind, the occupant is thrown back against the backrest and head restraint. At the same instant, the advanced whiplash protection system comes into play.

The entire upper body and head are caught in a balanced, gentle manner by moving the backrest and head restraint backwards in a parallel movement. This also keeps the distance between head and head restraint as small as possible.

This is very important. The smaller the distance between head and head restraint, the smaller the risk of whiplash injury.

Then the backrest tips backwards so that the body continues to be restrained in a balanced sequence. This also reduces the forward rebound that the body is subjected to after being thrown back in the seat.

The entire process takes place in a single smooth sequence, but with two integrated phases.

The seat backrest has also been improved in order to distribute the forces more evenly along the back and neck, which maximizes the protection for the spine.

Volvo's safety research has resulted in a long procession of pioneering safety solutions over the past fifty years. WHIPS is an important contribution to the work of creating cars that are as safe as they possibly can be.

In the WHIPS project, Volvo is working together with the car safety company Autoliv.

INFLATABLE CURTAIN
New Volvo technology for head protection 

Volvo is developing the third phase of the SIPS side-impact protection system, with the Inflatable Curtain, IC, which is designed to protect the occupants' heads in a side collision.

With the IC system, Volvo is consolidating its special position as the leader in safety.

Today, SIPS is a well-known concept in the automotive world. When it was introduced in 1991, it set a completely new standard for side-impact protection.

Step two came in 1994 with the SIPS bags - airbags fitted in the sides of the front seats to provide protection if the car is driven into from the side.

Today, SIPS and the SIPS bag are standard in all Volvo models.

Reducing head injuries
Stage three - the IC system - is now being developed to meet the threat from head injuries. Volvo's safety research has shown that head injuries are the cause of more than a quarter of fatalities and severe injuries in traffic. The most common accident types that result in head injuries are side impacts and multiple accidents.

Since the distance between the occupant's head and the side structure of the car is so short, it has always been difficult to create a protection system for these types of accidents. Volvo has, however, focused much of its safety development on these very issues.

The result is the IC system - further proof of Volvo's advanced approach to safety.

"Our efforts in this field are completely in line with Volvo's safety philosophy. According to our calculations, the IC system will reduce the frequency of severe head injuries substantially," says Hans Gustavsson, head of product development at the Volvo Car Corporation.

It is estimated that SIPS, together with the SIPS-bag, will be capable of reducing the most serious injuries associated with side impacts by about 40 percent. The IC technology is an excellent complement to SIPS and is expected to reduce injury even further.

Protection both front and rear
The IC system is fitted inside the headliner. On inflation, the curtain covers the upper part of the interior, from the front to the rear side pillars. This means that it protects both front-seat occupants and those sitting in the outer rear seats.

The curtain is activated by signals from impact sensors fitted in the body sides. The channels in the curtain are filled with gas in twenty-five thousandths of a second.

The curtain catches the head in a controlled manner and prevents it from hitting the inside of the car - as well as from hitting other objects that the car may have collided with, such as a lamp-post.

The curtain is woven in a single piece with channels at strategic points and is hidden within the headliner in normal circumstances.

The IC system has been developed by Volvo in collaboration with the car safety company Autoliv.