Insurance industry tunes in to what the Swedish carmaker touts as safest car it's built, says motoring editor Alastair Sloane
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At least one New Zealand insurance company is looking at cutting the cost of insuring the new XC60 Volvo, a compact lifestyle model the Swedish carmaker says is the safest vehicle it has ever built.
At its core is a world-first system called "city safety" - a low-speed crash-avoidance technology developed in-house by Ford-owned Volvo and standard in the the XC60.
It is certain to be adopted across the Volvo range, perhaps starting with the next-generation S60 sedan. Other carmakers are working on similar technology.
Leading Australian car insurance company NRMA has already moved to slash premiums for the XC60. "We are confident that the technology will reduce the likelihood of the XC60 being involved in a collision," said NRMA research chief Robert McDonald.
"This is set to be reflected in our pricing and we would estimate that the cost of an insurance premium for this vehicle will be up to 20 per cent cheaper than it would be if it didn't have the technology."
NRMA Insurance estimates about 50,000 rear-end accidents occur on New South Wales roads alone each year, with driver inattention usually to blame.
Said McDonald: "According to our claims data, rear-enders cost NSW drivers and insurers almost A$200 million [$249 million] a year and this figure doesn't take into account the emotional and physical distress of the collisions."
Volvo New Zealand general manager Mark Patterson has been talking to the insurance industry on this side of the ditch.
"I have met with the major companies and outlined the benefits of 'city safety'," he said. "One company has come back to say it will reduce the premiums on the XC60. At this point there is just the one company and I don't want to name it."
Volvo came up with city safety in response to surveys that showed 75 per cent of all reported collisions happen at speeds of up to 30km/h.
The same surveys showed that in 50 per cent of these collisions, the driver had not braked at all beforehand, mostly because he or she was distracted.
What's needed, said Volvo's research boffins, is an automatic braking system designed to prevent or minimise collisions at speeds under 30km/h, or in a typical rear-end crash.
City safety is designed to react to vehicles up ahead that are either stationary or moving in the same direction. It uses a windscreen-mounted laser sensor making 50 calculations a second to monitor closing speeds within 8m of the XC60's front bumper.
If a collision with the vehicle in front is likely, it pre-charges the brakes for the driver. If the driver doesn't act - and that happens in 50 per cent of low-speed collisions, remember - it jumps on the brakes instead.
City safety will also help to prevent an accident entirely, if the relative speed difference between the two vehicles is less than 15km/h.
This worked perfectly in a demonstration drive in Canberra last Monday, the XC60 coming to a halt at the last second and within centimetres of an inflatable, Disney-like dummy car.
At higher speeds, between 15km/h and 30km/h, city safety focuses on reducing speed as much as possible before impact to minimise damage and injury.
The laser sensor is linked to Volvo's standard restraint systems, which control the deployment of airbags and seatbelt limiters in accordance with the severity of the collision.
City safety is part of Volvo's "Mobility 2020" vision, a mission statement that no person should be fatally injured in a Volvo by the year 2020. The next version of city safety will recognise pedestrians.
"City safety is yet another example of Volvo's ambition to tackle real-life traffic situations when developing solutions aimed at preventing accidents," says Jonas Ekmark, the head of preventive safety at Volvo's safety centre in Sweden.
"City safety works with equal effectiveness day or night. However, the laser sensor is affected by prevailing conditions such as fog or heavy rain. It's important that the sensor area be kept clean at all times.
"City Safety does not relieve the driver of the responsibility for maintaining a safe distance to avoid a collision. The automatic braking function does not react until it calculates that a collision is imminent."
The system is supported by the XC60's armada of other safety devices, including similar technology which works at higher speeds and alerts the driver if the distance between the vehicle travelling in front suddenly decreases.
Volvo calls this Collision Warning with Auto Brake, optional on the XC60. It prepares for heavy braking and, if needs be, automatically jumps on the brakes with up to 50 per cent of full braking power if the driver has not responded to the alert.
The XC60 has just gone on sale in New Zealand. Two models are available, the entry-level D5 turbodiesel priced from $76,990 and the T6 turbocharged petrol unit, starting at $84,990.
The extensive options list offering things such as continuously variable suspension, satellite-navigation and lane-change warning will push up the price.
The D5 uses the second-generation version of Volvo's long-time 2.4-litre engine, an in-line five-cylinder unit producing 136kW at 4000rpm and 400Nm of torque between 2000rpm and 2750rpm.
Volvo claims town-and-around fuel consumption for the D5 of 8.3 litres/100km (34mpg) and CO2 exhaust emissions of 219g/km.
The T6 is powered by an in-line 3-litre six-cylinder unit with twin-scroll turbocharger. It puts out 210kW at 5600rpm and 400Nm between 1500rpm and 4800rpm. Volvo says it is good for an average 11.3 litres/100km (25mpg) and 284g/km of CO2.
Both engines are mated to an Aisin six-speed automatic transmission with Volvo's sequential Geartronic system.
A fourth-generation Haldex four-wheel-drive transmission distributes torque - up to 95 per cent to the front wheels in normal driving conditions and 50 per cent to the rear when extra grip is needed.
It also varies drive continuously front and back for optimum stability.
It works hand-in-hand with what Volvo calls its dynamic stability and traction control (DSTC) system, which also includes anti-roll sensors to aid stability during evasive manoeuvres, as well as a stability function for towing trailers. This nips potential oscillations in the bud by braking of one or more of the XC60's wheels and restricting engine torque.
Kerb weight starts at 1880kg in the D5 and 1912kg in the T6. Both offer a braked trailer weight of 2000kg, an unbraked trailer weight of 750kg and a 100kg maximum roof load.
The XC60 sits on a common Volvo platform. Front suspension is a coil-over struts set-up incorporating anti-dive and anti-lift geometry. The rear uses a multi-link independent arrangement.
A 400km drive on a testing mix of sealed and unsealed roads in Canberra, NSW and Victoria last week revealed many strengths and few weaknesses about the wedge-shaped XC60.
The BMW X3 got itself a genuine rival when the Audi Q5 came along. The XC60 will make both the Germans sit up and take notice.
