Volvo takes it up a notch

Volvo is as close as a car will ever become to a synonym for safety. For years the carmaker has waded in the realms of airbags, active safety-equipment and crumple-zones creating a name for itself among people who make their children wear polo-shirts. But now they've ran with it even further.


The new Volvo V40, the base for future Volvos, was revealed at the Geneva motorshow a few weeks ago, and it set a new bar for 'safe'. The package includes sensors for preventing pedestrian collisions, sensors for preventing low-speed collisions, sensors for blind spots, and pretty much all available techy bits that prevent one from having an unwanted aquaintance with a wall, other car, tree or ditch.

This is how your Volvo will look like when you crash into a man

The eye-catcher among all the technology, though, is a world's-first pedestrian airbag, which in Volvo's mind is the best way to bring down the rather big amounts of lives lost in pedestrian collisions and satisfy the strict EU-regulations concerning pedestrian-impact.

It's a system, where to soften the impact, smart sensors detect a pedestrian collision and deploy a U-shaped cushion over the windscreen and A-pillars and raise the bonnet up a bit to further minimize the damage. Quite an impressive invention then, and the system will be featured in all new Volvo models.

And on top of the "business as usual" safety, Volvo, it seems, have finally overcome their biggest stumbling block. It's easy to make safety boring, and this is where the engineers at Volvo have struggled in the past.

It's a thin line to walk having something packed with safety and excitement at the same time, but it seems as if they're finally getting it. No more is Volvo emitting the vibes of being a box for people who have boring lives. The new Volvos actually look appealing, even to people who enjoy driving, and this latest V40 emphasizes that too. The sleek lines of the design highlight the lowered centre of gravity and the suspension is designed to work under agressive driving as well, some real image improvement right there.

The engine-variants for the V40 will include a 150hp and 180hp turbo 1.6l petrol, based on the Ford's ecoBoost engine, so no disappointments to be expected there. As for the diesels there will be a 2 litre turbodiesel and a 1,6litre turbodiesel, of which the 115hp 1,6 is the one to have combining massive fuel-efficiancy with decent power.

Final words

I have to admit, Volvo with it's new image has grown to become quite a guilty pleasure, for me at least. Something people, drivers, secretly desire. Volvos have become seriously interesting, and I can't see a reason for why they couldn't become drivers' cars in the future, even if the mental conflict exists in your head now.

-HS

What's your thoughts on the newborn Volvo image?