Friday 7th May 2010

Video: Volvo Accidentally Crashes An S60

Why even crash-test dummies should keep their eyes on the road

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Volvo has proved why cars still need drivers, when a demonstration of its latest collision detection system went embarrassingly wrong in Sweden this week.

Volvo fired its new S60 out of its testing tunnel at 35kph, after which the car's safety systems should have detected the stationary truck in its path. As you can see from the video, it did not...

All credit to the man from Volvo, however, who managed to keep smiling in the face of the titters of the assembled hacks. We also congratulate him on his mastery of the art of understatement: "So ladies and gentleman, we've had some kind of mishap in the testing here," says he. No kidding...

In its defence, Volvo says that this pre-production car had a problem with its battery and that, had a human (rather than a dummy) been driving, the collision would have been avoided.

That's a bit like saying 'if it hadn't happened, then it wouldn't have happened', but we see Volvo's point...

Sorry folks - Video has been removed from YouTube... 

^{Ta to the chaps at Wired for the tip-off...}

[Mubble]

Didn't this happen to Mercedes once too?

[soad]

That didn't go according to a plan...

[vit4]

Mubble said:

Didn't this happen to Mercedes once too?

Yeah, I think someone was actually in it though?

Got to laugh when stuff like this happens.

[rfn]

Mubble said:

Didn't this happen to Mercedes once too?

I recall it being in the fog - was that what they claimed upset the collision detection system?

[louismchuge]

[S10 GTA]

That made me laugh.

[Dracoro]

rfn said:

Mubble said:

Didn't this happen to Mercedes once too?

I recall it being in the fog - was that what they claimed upset the collision detection system?

I also heard it was because half the drive was in side a building.

I also heard it was because the system wasn't turned on.

Knowing Mercedes approach to "engineering" over the last 15 years, I suspect it was simply rubbish and didn't work

[vit4]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBy78UJ081w

Only viddy I could find of the Mercedes one

[Mini1275]

[Silvester21]

on the mercedes one - i believe they claimed the system wasn't activated !

[steveb8189]

The full story I heard about the Mercedes was that they were doing a demo of the system during the day so they put in some artificial fog to ensure the human driver couldn't see what he was about to crash in to. The only problem was the system wasn't fully functioning before the test so they put down a small plant of wood for the car to drive over so the driver would know when to break. Cue the demo and the driver doesn't notice the piece of wood and crashes...

[plg]

Is it just the angle of the shot, or did the airbags not go off? At that speed surely they should activate?

[MarvinManUK]

louismchuge said:

+1

[10JH]

Silvester21 said:

on the mercedes one - i believe they claimed the system wasn't activated !

Yeah I remember that. Maybe Volvo will claim that too...

[TheRoadWarrior]

Well recovered there by the volvo matey.

But epic epic fail all the same.

[frosted]

Can you imgagine this rolling out to all cars and the sensor being dirty or something . this system is available on the Lexus vehicles , wondering if anyone has had problems with it yet

[Gixer_fan]

"In its defence, Volvo says that this pre-production car had a problem with its battery and that, had a human (rather than a dummy) been driving, the collision would have been avoided."

2 comments:
1. Are production cars never going to have battery problems?
2. If a human can avoid the accident (at all of 22mph) why is it needed?

[TVRWannabee]

"Had a human (rather than a dummy) been driving, the collision would have been avoided."


So....let me see....the driver is there in case the technology fails. Revolutionary idea: why not just rely on the driver then?

[phil pdp]

I like the bit at the end.

"We've given the car eyes".

"They must've been closed".

[soad]

phil pdp said:

I like the bit at the end.

"We've given the car eyes".

"They must've been closed".

Aye, he knows the right things to say!