When it comes to million-class SUVs, Volvo’s new XC90 defines the highest level of safety

In today’s luxury car market, more and more consumers are changing from appearance associations to those who pay attention to the inner strength and quality of cars, and they are more inclined to pay attention to the power, comfort, handling, safety and other aspects of luxury car strength. Among them, luxury SUVs have become the first choice for many families because they give people a sense of calm, strong and reliable security, and with their spacious and comfortable space and a variety of rich safety configurations.

And just recently, Volvo’s new XC90 broke the record of the top safety rating (TOPSAFETY PICK +) of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), and was selected as the safest car. Coincidentally, in the crash test of the European New Car Safety Assessment Association (EuroNCAP) in the same month, the new XC90 also received the highest score of the five-star rating. Two world-class authoritative safety assessments of the double crown are Volvo’s new XC90’s top safety technology. How good is its "golden bell", and how should consumers interpret these results? Let’s find out.

What is IIHS "sacred"

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is a non-profit third-party organization funded by auto insurance companies (to ensure absolute objectivity and impartiality). IIHS crash testing includes 25% frontal offset crash, 40% frontal offset crash, side crash, roof strength test, whip test, and vehicle crash avoidance system test. In particular, it is best known for the rigorous 25% minor overlap crash, which requires very high safety requirements for automobiles.

In the just-released IIHS crash safety evaluation, Volvo’s new XC90 achieved the highest excellent rating (Good) in all crash test items of the destruction system (including 25% offset collision, 40% offset collision, side collision, roof strength, head limit and seat test). What’s more worth mentioning is that in the frontal collision prevention function, Volvo’s new XC90 received full marks, which is far ahead of competing cars, including Audi Q5, Mercedes-Benz M-Class, Lexus NX and other models.

  Collision level big boss: 25% frontal paranoid collision

The 25% frontal offset collision is a 150 cm high non-deformable barrier at a speed of 64 km/h, simulating the scene of a vehicle colliding with trees or telephone poles in daily life. Since the impact point basically avoids the body stringer and energy-absorbing structure, the impact force is almost unimpeded and transmitted to the cockpit. In severe cases, it is likely to cause serious injury to the occupants of the vehicle. Therefore, the design of the body skeleton is greatly tested. At the same speed, a 25% biased frontal collision is much more serious than a 40% biased frontal collision, causing much more serious damage to the occupants of the vehicle, and the intensity required for the cockpit is much higher than that of a 40% biased collision.

Because the impact force of the small-area crash test is concentrated in about 25% of the leftmost range of the front of the car, the front energy-absorbing stringer can hardly absorb the collision energy. At this time, the vehicle will not only slow down in the direction of travel, but also move violently laterally to the other side of the collision point. The risk of injury to the occupants in the car, especially the driver, increases sharply. After the impact (as shown in the picture below), the A-pillar deformation of Volvo’s new XC90 is not obvious. This is due to the safety structure design of its new Volvo XC90. The body is covered with boron steel structure up to 40%, which is completely ahead of the same class of models. The cockpit is not deformed in such accidents, fully ensuring the driver’s survival space.

In addition, due to the strong impact force of the front 25% collision, the door frame, steering column, instrument panel, hinge column and other components are invaded to varying degrees (as shown below). From the new XC90 crash test data, it is shown that the lower door hinge column is invaded 4cm, the instrument panel is pushed 2cm towards the driver, and the footrest is invaded 2cm. Compared with the vehicles participating in the test at the same level, the cockpit space is maintained in a very good state. It is necessary to know that the deformation of the cockpit will directly threaten the safety controls of the occupants in the car, and the higher the degree of deformation, the greater the risk of injury to the occupants.

In fact, Volvo’s new XC90 can achieve effective protection for occupants not only in IIHS-specific 25% offset collisions, but also in all common safety collisions.

    The new XC90 hides the safety standard of future cars

It is clear that Volvo has long exceeded the primary criterion for measuring car safety, which has always been the level of crash safety. Even before the crash prevention function was included in the evaluation of various testing institutions, Volvo had already equipped its products with active safety systems such as Citysafety to avoid collisions to the greatest extent possible.

According to statistics, 75% of rear-end collisions occur at speeds of about 30km/h, and Volvo’s "City Safety" system is the nemesis of these accidents: when the vehicle reaches a speed of 30km/h, the system will automatically start, monitoring traffic conditions through the lidar system on the front windshield, especially within 6 meters of the front of the car. When the current car brakes, stops or has other obstacles, the system will automatically apply force to the braking system to help the driver shorten the braking distance before making a move. Of course, if the obstacle is already very close, the system will automatically emergency brake without the driver’s action.

Of course, in the current road driving situation, there are often accidents where you don’t hit others, but others hit you. At this time, the passive safety design of Volvo’s new XC90 has become the last line of defense for occupant safety. According to the test results of the test agency, the passive crash safety of the new XC90 can maximize the safety of the occupants.

Cars play a pivotal role in modern transportation, and car safety has become a topic of conversation in the industry. How to create an extremely safe car? This is an important topic that the entire automotive industry has been exploring and has been studying. As a leader in the field of automotive safety, Volvo has always adhered to the inherent DNA of the brand during its 88-year research and development. The excellent performance of the new XC90 safety has indeed brought consumers more peace of mind in today’s luxury SUV market. To paraphrase the words of Volvo’s founders, Gabriarelsson Assarelsson and Gustaf Lalson: cars are man-made. No matter what Volvo does, Volvo always adheres to one basic principle: safety. This is the case now, it will be the same in the future, and it will always be the same.