RE: Volvo XC90: super, smashing, great
Friday 29th August 2014
Volvo does a good crash test. And while the new XC90 might not be the sort of vehicle to set PH pulses racing there's something oddly beguiling about this video from Volvo of three examples meeting their doom at the company's Safety Center in Gothenburg.
Volvo XC90: super, smashing, great
Oddly mesmerising yet disturbing crash test footage finally gets new XC90 its PH airtime
Of course, given the limited observational skills displayed by many of them, you could argue that Volvo drivers don't need to be made to feel even more invulnerable. And the company still hasn't introduced technology to allow any of its products to tow caravans faster than 37mph on west country A-roads. But the new XC90 makes having a reasonably serious impact look like having a go in a bouncy castle - in slow motion, at least.
The three impacts are a frontal offset into a deformable barrier at 40mph, a side impact at 35mph and a staged rollover at 30mph. The XC90s concerned performs admirably - even the side windows stay intact in the rollover.
Sighs of relief all round then, especially given that even in the world of Volvo crash tests things don't always go quite so smoothly...
[Source: Worldcarfans via YouTube]
Discussion
All mightly impressive stuff but in these roll over tests, it's not obvious that the roof/top of the A-pillar takes the biggest hit imaginable as a lot of the total energy dissipated is absorbed by the other points of impact/contact but I'd rather be in that than my Disco 4 in such circumstances...
MogulBoy said:
All mightly impressive stuff but in these roll over tests, it's not obvious that the roof/top of the A-pillar takes the biggest hit imaginable as a lot of the total energy dissipated is absorbed by the other points of impact/contact but I'd rather be in that than my Disco 4 in such circumstances...
It doesn't show a big roof impact, but judging by how stable it is in the offset frontal impacts I'd be surprised if it's an issue.That looks like a seriously safe tank to take to the roads, I'd certainly think about one of those if I had to go and live in Egypt or India!
Very good. Hopefully the pricing will get agressive quickly too. My current one is a great car, but I bought it as I need 7-seats and wanted 4WD, and it was £15k less than a similarly specced Disco/X5 after all the deep dealer discounts. Launch prices look more in line with competitors, which initially takes that selling point away.
The old D5 diesel engine is the weakest point on my car and is really slow to wind up when pulling out at junctions - it is woeful compared to a BMW diesel. The new 4 cyliner unit needs to be a big step up to compete.
The old D5 diesel engine is the weakest point on my car and is really slow to wind up when pulling out at junctions - it is woeful compared to a BMW diesel. The new 4 cyliner unit needs to be a big step up to compete.
nelly_h said:
Very good. Hopefully the pricing will get agressive quickly too. My current one is a great car, but I bought it as I need 7-seats and wanted 4WD, and it was £15k less than a similarly specced Disco/X5 after all the deep dealer discounts. Launch prices look more in line with competitors, which initially takes that selling point away.
The old D5 diesel engine is the weakest point on my car and is really slow to wind up when pulling out at junctions - it is woeful compared to a BMW diesel. The new 4 cyliner unit needs to be a big step up to compete.
Completely agree, we have had an XC70, 90 and most recently 60 all as D5's superbly built cars and each for us have been utterly reliable. The dealer discount is essential as the residuals are quite ugly so at the very least we have managed to reduce the purchase price by at least 20%.The old D5 diesel engine is the weakest point on my car and is really slow to wind up when pulling out at junctions - it is woeful compared to a BMW diesel. The new 4 cyliner unit needs to be a big step up to compete.
The power plant needs to be a big step up from the D5 not only in responsiveness but critically fuel economy which has been my only complaint, the performance on offer in relation to the economy is poor.
Good luck on the discount! I would imagine that there would be a fair bit of pent up demand out there but everything will of course depend on what markets Volvo favour interms of penetration and profit margins.
Porsche are the masters of this - witness the UK Macan market vs. the Swiss market where there are 20+ new unreg'd cars ready to drive away listed. It wouldn't surprise me if PAG make more € per unit on these Swiss cars than they would if they had built them for the UK/RHD market...
Porsche are the masters of this - witness the UK Macan market vs. the Swiss market where there are 20+ new unreg'd cars ready to drive away listed. It wouldn't surprise me if PAG make more € per unit on these Swiss cars than they would if they had built them for the UK/RHD market...
Dr Interceptor said:
I thought at first it may be a small charge used to quickly shut the sunroof in a crash situation... but then saw there was no sunroof.
That’s the AAH system (autonomous, automotive harakiri system). Using a wide array of sensors, the car is able to evaluate the potential severity of the impact and if it deems the resulting damage above a certain, predefined level, it automatically puts itself out of its misery by shooting itself in the head just before impact. Clever stuff.FlopperV60 said:
nelly_h said:
Very good. Hopefully the pricing will get agressive quickly too. My current one is a great car, but I bought it as I need 7-seats and wanted 4WD, and it was £15k less than a similarly specced Disco/X5 after all the deep dealer discounts. Launch prices look more in line with competitors, which initially takes that selling point away.
The old D5 diesel engine is the weakest point on my car and is really slow to wind up when pulling out at junctions - it is woeful compared to a BMW diesel. The new 4 cyliner unit needs to be a big step up to compete.
Completely agree, we have had an XC70, 90 and most recently 60 all as D5's superbly built cars and each for us have been utterly reliable. The dealer discount is essential as the residuals are quite ugly so at the very least we have managed to reduce the purchase price by at least 20%.The old D5 diesel engine is the weakest point on my car and is really slow to wind up when pulling out at junctions - it is woeful compared to a BMW diesel. The new 4 cyliner unit needs to be a big step up to compete.
The power plant needs to be a big step up from the D5 not only in responsiveness but critically fuel economy which has been my only complaint, the performance on offer in relation to the economy is poor.
Itsallicanafford said:
That’s the AAH system (autonomous, automotive harakiri system). Using a wide array of sensors, the car is able to evaluate the potential severity of the impact and if it deems the resulting damage above a certain, predefined level, it automatically puts itself out of its misery by shooting itself in the head just before impact. Clever stuff.
t telling you that your owed thousands from your recent accidentjonnylarge said:
Does anyone know what the small explosions on the roof are?
They could be just for analysis but maybe there to signify the pre-impact sensors have detected an impact - they receive a signal once the pressure sensors in the doors reach a peak pressure (the doors fold in quite easily so as well as setting off airbags with deceleration sensors the manufacturers use sealed door cavities and pressure sensors) this allows the airbags time to inflate before the full force of the impact has set in. The slow-mo footage and pyro's make data analysis much easier with more reference points.
Edited by Pope on Friday 29th August 20:04
The roof explosive is for marking the point of the impact to allow them to line up the high speed video with the data recorders.
I have spent a lot of time a Volvo in Gothenberg over the last few months and spent a fair bit of time in the new cars and they have all been pretty impressive, the designs are elegantly simple and make all the German rivals look fussy, the interiors are superb and they genuinely feel premium (which hasn't been the case for a while).
I am not so sure about a 4 cyl in a car that big (although it is a very good engine and the fuel/performance trade off is superb) but the hybrid version should be interesting.
Volvo are easily the world leaders in crash testing and their facilities are light years ahead of everyone else. Their corporate goal is that by the time they are fully onto SPA GEN2 (about 2020) that no-one will every die in a Volvo again. not a very PH target but ultimately a big usp if they pull it off.
I have spent a lot of time a Volvo in Gothenberg over the last few months and spent a fair bit of time in the new cars and they have all been pretty impressive, the designs are elegantly simple and make all the German rivals look fussy, the interiors are superb and they genuinely feel premium (which hasn't been the case for a while).
I am not so sure about a 4 cyl in a car that big (although it is a very good engine and the fuel/performance trade off is superb) but the hybrid version should be interesting.
Volvo are easily the world leaders in crash testing and their facilities are light years ahead of everyone else. Their corporate goal is that by the time they are fully onto SPA GEN2 (about 2020) that no-one will every die in a Volvo again. not a very PH target but ultimately a big usp if they pull it off.
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