Volvo Promises 'Deathproof' Cars By 2020

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
Volvo is promising that, by the year 2020, no one will be killed or seriously injured in one of its new cars or SUVs. I sense a lawsuit from Sylvester Stallone and Secure Foam any day now. ;)

Volvo has made a shocking pledge: By 2020, no one will be killed or seriously injured in a new Volvo car or SUV. Seriously. There is one big caveat. If someone really wants to hurt themselves, or is just really, really stupid... well, Volvo can't do anything about that. But, assuming you're not a suicidal maniac or a total idiot, in four years, you'll be safer driving a new Volvo than you are climbing a ladder to screw in a light bulb.
 
That's a pretty bold claim. So they're telling me if I'm in there vehicle, and a tanker truck weighing over 100,000 lbs runs a light and slams into me at 55+ mph, that I will survive? I find that hard to believe.
 
you'll be safer driving a new Volvo than you are climbing a ladder to screw in a light bulb.
Click to expand...

Any of you guys like me and feel a little trepidation climbing a ladder, I mean, a healthy feeling of caution.

I don't usually feel that getting in my car in the morning going in to work.

Maybe it's just me.
 
Why is it that when Ford owned Volvo, Volvo suffered badly, but now that a Chinese company owns Volvo, Volvo is selling more cars than ever and building its first factory in the United States?
 
the_servicer said:
Why is it that when Ford owned Volvo, Volvo suffered badly, but now that a Chinese company owns Volvo, Volvo is selling more cars than ever and building its first factory in the United States?
Click to expand...

Ford already circled the problem for you on that one :cool:
 
Time2Kill said:
That's a pretty bold claim. So they're telling me if I'm in there vehicle, and a tanker truck weighing over 100,000 lbs runs a light and slams into me at 55+ mph, that I will survive? I find that hard to believe.
Click to expand...

This.

Also, how about a tree falling on you while you're driving down the street, or a 747 crash landing on top of your car. Guess they are going to make the car bullet and bomb proof to cover all those terrorist attacks.

Sounds like a good car for criminals, since they won't have to worry about the police killing them after committing a crime and driving away in a Volvo.
 
Time2Kill said:
That's a pretty bold claim. So they're telling me if I'm in there vehicle, and a tanker truck weighing over 100,000 lbs runs a light and slams into me at 55+ mph, that I will survive? I find that hard to believe.
Click to expand...

10,000, that's an empty tanker truck.


Then again, my niece T-bones a a semi pulling a milk container trailer. Front of the truck slammed in just behind the front trailer wheels, the rest of the trailer rolled up over the front of the truck crushing the engine compartment and the front cab area. She was banged up pretty bad but she lived through it. That says a lot to me about Dodge Ram 2500s.

Truthfully I replay that image in my head and can't see how that little girl lived.

I suppose we just can't make the world safe enough. Someone has been pissing in the gene pool again :p
 
Time2Kill said:
That's a pretty bold claim. So they're telling me if I'm in there vehicle, and a tanker truck weighing over 100,000 lbs runs a light and slams into me at 55+ mph, that I will survive? I find that hard to believe.
Click to expand...

I was about to write something similar along these lines. Side-impact or rear-impact at high speed are especially bad because one doesn't usually see these coming. People inside may not be immediately killed but if the internal injuries are bad enough and help doesn't arrive immediately, death is usually the result.
 
So they are bulletproof?

I can see the President rolling around in a Volvo if it in fact is death-proof. Now the car dying itself... haha
 
Time2Kill said:
That's a pretty bold claim. So they're telling me if I'm in there vehicle, and a tanker truck weighing over 100,000 lbs runs a light and slams into me at 55+ mph, that I will survive? I find that hard to believe.
Click to expand...

Max gross for cmv is 40T in US without overweight permits, escorts, etc...
Either way though.
 
There's probably a disclaimer of some sorts for this.

Disclaimer: Does not protect against crashes with another vehicle equal to or larger. Does not protect against acts of God. Does not protect against crash speeds higher that 2.5mph. Does not protect occupants who has weight of less than 50lbs or more than 100lbs. Drive at your own risk
 
Time2Kill said:
That's a pretty bold claim. So they're telling me if I'm in there vehicle, and a tanker truck weighing over 100,000 lbs runs a light and slams into me at 55+ mph, that I will survive? I find that hard to believe.
Click to expand...

You would just need some sensors to detect objects on a collision course with you and apply breaks/steering when needed.
 
ShagnWagn said:
So they are bulletproof?
Click to expand...

no.

Bullets have nothing to do with driving a car.

And none of the tech they showed in the video is directly going to protect you if a semi falls on top of you.

The tech is more about avoidance, as well as plenty of air bags around you to absorb most impacts.

There is nothing the car can do if someone is about to T-bone you other than it can try to brake so the T-boning car would pass infront of you or accelerate so it passes behind you.

The only way such a feature would work tho is if the car could sense the incoming object soon enough to make a decision on which is safer as well as have enough break/accel room to avoid a collision.
 
Wildace said:
no.

Bullets have nothing to do with driving a car.

And none of the tech they showed in the video is directly going to protect you if a semi falls on top of you.

The tech is more about avoidance, as well as plenty of air bags around you to absorb most impacts.

There is nothing the car can do if someone is about to T-bone you other than it can try to brake so the T-boning car would pass infront of you or accelerate so it passes behind you.

The only way such a feature would work tho is if the car could sense the incoming object soon enough to make a decision on which is safer as well as have enough break/accel room to avoid a collision.
Click to expand...

What if it is a near-miss? Do these "safety features" still deploy? Thousands of $ of safety features deployed for nothing.
 
Liked the Ford comment.
Can't decide:
Ford can be very dumb
The Chinese can be very smart
both?

My friend owns a top of the line Mustang. What works is fantastic. Some of the detail decisions are (see first choice).
 
Say what you will about Ford but...

About 2011, an idiot cut across 3 lanes of traffic and smacked the corner of the Prius I was driving. The steering link immediately snapped and we spun out of control across 3 lanes of traffic to come to a resting stop on the side of the road.

The frame was severely bent...and the Prius was totaled.

The 1995 taurus has a bent fender and wheel hub. He could drive it still.

The last series of Ford Taurus is the safest car on the road before you reach Mercedes E class or SUV's on frames. Why? Because it's built on Volvo's largest frame car, AND it's made of steel not aluminum.
 
After I read Steve's first sentence, "Volvo is promising that, by the year 2020, no one will be killed or seriously injured in one of its new cars or SUVs," I also immediately thought of Demolition Man.

2489840.jpg
 
Xrave said:
After I read Steve's first sentence, "Volvo is promising that, by the year 2020, no one will be killed or seriously injured in one of its new cars or SUVs," I also immediately thought of Demolition Man.
Click to expand...

And he mentions Stallone in the very next sentence :D

I sense a lawsuit from Sylvester Stallone and Secure Foam any day now.
Click to expand...
 
so 2020 cars will have the Judge Dredd foam stuff? (the bad judge dredd movie)
 
"Hey, Pam, remember when I said this car was death proof? Well, that wasn't a lie. This car is 100% death proof. Only to get the benefit of it, honey, you REALLY need to be sitting in my seat. "
- stuntman mike
 
alxlwson said:
Max gross for cmv is 40T in US without overweight permits, escorts, etc...
Either way though.
Click to expand...

In Sweden they have 60 ton trucks and with new EU rules even 90 tons with 3 trailers is possible.
 
Draax said:
"Hey, Pam, remember when I said this car was death proof? Well, that wasn't a lie. This car is 100% death proof. Only to get the benefit of it, honey, you REALLY need to be sitting in my seat. "
- stuntman mike
Click to expand...

wpid-death-proof-wallpaper-10-e1407837960384.jpg
 
I'm thinking ejector seats. Car anticipates a collision, eject! Even if you're in a tunnel or something and you launch into the ceiling, you still didn't die "in" the car.
 
On the other hand, are these new Volvo's submarines if the driver happens to drive into a retention pond and gets submerged? :D
 
Time2Kill said:
That's a pretty bold claim. So they're telling me if I'm in there vehicle, and a tanker truck weighing over 100,000 lbs runs a light and slams into me at 55+ mph, that I will survive? I find that hard to believe.
Click to expand...

It's not hard if you just make them so unreliable, they are always in for service. Die in the loaner as long as it's not a volvo, the stats will work out.
 
I'm fairly certain that if you get T-boned by a semi truck at 55, you'd die no matter how good your car might be.
 
Cobalt35 said:
That's a really fucking stupid claim. Lawsuits incoming in 2020.
Click to expand...

No, when the time comes if the claim is actually made in print, I assure you it will have a big frickin' Star* next to it, and 400 lines of legalize in tiny italic print.
 
the_servicer said:
Why is it that when Ford owned Volvo, Volvo suffered badly, but now that a Chinese company owns Volvo, Volvo is selling more cars than ever and building its first factory in the United States?
Click to expand...

Ford purchasing Volvo, Jaguar and Aston Martin was more about poaching technology for their own vehicles than running those divisions well. I suspect the strategic alliance with Mazda is for the same reasons. Jag engineers helped design the 2005 Mustang platform, Volvo did safety shell. Freestyle (now Taurus X) /500(now Taurus) is using Volvo's AWD platform. Fusion has styling cues of Aston designs. That is just what is off the top of my head from when I worked at a Ford dealership. I am sure there is far more being used in other models as well.

Was most likely the best decision they made IMO and likely helped keep them from needing bailouts like GM and Chrysler.
 
Draax said:
"Hey, Pam, remember when I said this car was death proof? Well, that wasn't a lie. This car is 100% death proof. Only to get the benefit of it, honey, you REALLY need to be sitting in my seat. "
- stuntman mike
Click to expand...

Came for this....



deathproof010907_468x351.jpg
 
ShagnWagn said:
What if it is a near-miss? Do these "safety features" still deploy? Thousands of $ of safety features deployed for nothing.
Click to expand...

Why would an airbag go off it is a near miss?

most of the features mentioned are all technology driven meaning the cost of them activating or not is in the cost of electricity running the cpu's and such. none of the features are likely one time use outside of actual air bag deployment, and chances are if that goes off the car is going to be totaled as well.
 
dgingeri said:
I'm fairly certain that if you get T-boned by a semi truck at 55, you'd die no matter how good your car might be.
Click to expand...

Or if you get smashed between 2 semi's on the freeway.
Happened near where I live many years ago. Only the 2 people in the front seats of the minivan survived, just barely.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top