Disclaimer in advance: The "test" you are about to see was not done on our Long Term 2010 Volvo XC60, but rather on a short-term car which we covered in a Full Test
Further disclaimer: It's not a very valid test of Volvo's City Safety collision warning system that applies the brakes-- outranking your throttle inputs, you can stay on the gas and it still works -- when it senses a frontal collision. We didn't have a spare car to potentially crash a Volvo into, the Camaro wasn't here yet, so we just set up a few boxes, sometimes a trash can, lined them with reflective tape and tried to knock them over!
Oh, and we videoed it.
Attempt 1: 15 mph.
Well done, Volvo. Well done.
Attept 2 (or 3...or 4...we were nothing if not scientific here.): 15 mph
...not so good.
Volvo says this system is not designed to protect against small things flying in front of the car (kids on bikes, deer) nor is it designed to deal with off-center collisions.
So here's a small thing flying in front of the car AND an off-center collision!
Just like Volvo said, that doesn't work!
I'll just use Josh's City Safety conclusion from the full test here, as he took this more seriously than we did here in the blog, "... the technology clearly works and it does so without intervening in normal driving, since its activation is triggered far later than when any alert driver would apply the brakes in such a situation."
Mike Magrath, Vehicle Testing Assistant
bradyholt says:
04:40 AM, 10/23/09
A few questions:
What was the difference between the first and second videos? Also, when the car does eventually stop, is that from City Safety eventually noticing that something had happened or a driver using the brakes himself? And when there was a collision, had City Safety at least started to activate before hitting the boxes?
hybris says:
05:49 AM, 10/23/09
I guess this kinda means that if you are on a motorcycle that Volvo will more than likely will still hit you due to your fairly low profile much like a box shown here.
dougtheeng says:
05:53 AM, 10/23/09
So who is going to volunteer to stand in front of it? Maybe you could get a blow up person and see if the car hits it.
ddoouugg says:
07:24 AM, 10/23/09
What happens if you try to swerve out of the way at the same time the city safety activates or just before it activates? In some traffic situations that may be a better way of avoiding a collision. Does the city safety feature allow you to do this?
altimadude00 says:
07:27 AM, 10/23/09
Technology is no substitute to proper driving techniques and driver awareness.
deric4eyes says:
07:44 AM, 10/23/09
I looked closely at the two videos. The first video had an extra box (brown) on top. I guess that activated the City Safety feature. The smaller profile of just the two boxed in video #2 caused it not to activate.
shaunpg says:
08:37 AM, 10/23/09
Best job ever.
boxermike says:
10:10 AM, 10/23/09
"I looked closely at the two videos. The first video had an extra box (brown) on top. I guess that activated the City Safety feature. The smaller profile of just the two boxed in video #2 caused it not to activate."
Yep. Highly scientific.
The second stack of boxes was still higher than your average lotus/corvette/370z.
-mm
norsairius says:
10:56 AM, 10/23/09
I think these technologies are good because they can help perfectly good drivers avoid accidents. Not everyone is perfect, you know? The thing is, my concern is that people may become reliant on such electronic driving aids and therefore begin to pay less attention to driving the car itself. What many people don't seem to understand is that these electronic driving aids are supposed to supplement the driver's ability, not replace it. Now I'm sure some people realize this, but I'd bet that there are drivers who just subconsciously pay less attention to driving or think that they can get away with more because of things like this.
For me personally, I'd rather do without lane departure assistance or radar-guided cruise control and such. I prefer to drive my cars, not be driven by them. On that note though, I think that automatic parking systems for cars are awful. If you can't park your own car, you probably shouldn't be driving. Because if you don't have the spatial awareness and ability to move your car at slow speeds, why should I trust you to drive it on the road? Great Audi commercial right here (taking a stab at Lexus, most of you have probably seen it already):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVaFbkg9jRs
All that aside though, great videos. It was pretty neat to see the system in action! Good to know you didn't have the same issue that Benz did when they tried to demonstrate a similar system on the S-Class.
frazier500 says:
11:20 AM, 10/23/09
Just a note about the S-class failure- it wasn't MB's fault.
http://www.autoblog.com/2005/11/28/mercedes-s-class-crash-the-truth-comes-out/
frazier500 says:
11:21 AM, 10/23/09
Just a note about that Mercedes fiasco, it actually was not their fault.
http://www.autoblog.com/2005/11/28/mercedes-s-class-crash-the-truth-comes-out/
jeepsrt says:
02:58 PM, 10/23/09
Looks good in silver, better than the long term car.
bradyholt says:
08:07 PM, 10/23/09
"What happens if you try to swerve out of the way at the same time the city safety activates or just before it activates? In some traffic situations that may be a better way of avoiding a collision. Does the city safety feature allow you to do this?"
City Safety only turns on if you haven't steered or touched the brakes yourself.
wrinklebump says:
11:56 PM, 10/23/09
I think this tech is really only intended as an absolute last resort if some teenager was fumbling for a cell phone or something while attempting to park the car. Equivalent of an extra PSI in the airbag, really, just a minor improvement but certainly not an unwelcome one.