Volvo XC90: super, smashing, great

Oddly mesmerising yet disturbing crash test footage finally gets new XC90 its PH airtime

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.

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...

Vid here