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Why
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VOLVO CIRCLE OF SAFETY
In many cases, Volvo's safety work has set the standard and led to legal
requirements in countries such as the USA relating to windscreen defrosters, windscreen
wipers, three-point safety belts and head restraints on the front seats, for example. In
1959, Volvo was the first car manufacturer in the world to equip its cars with safety
belts as standard. Another area in which Volvo has been one of the pioneers is child
safety, with child seats for children of different ages and integrated child protection. 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. 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. PROPERTY MANAGEMENT
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.
Safety Legislation
Volvo is an award winning car. On this page we've collected the most recent awards and designations. 1997
1995
1994
CIRCLE OF SAFETY WHIPS - Whiplash
Protection Studie 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. WHIPLASH - volvo's new safety challenge Volvo is taking up yet another major challenge in the field of safety: whiplash
injuries. 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 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 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 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 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.
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Why Volvo ?
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