NOTABLE
And in keeping with the overall ethos of what a Volvo is, the XC60
is engineered to be safe. According to Malin Ekholm, vice president,
Volvo Cars Safety Centre, it is built with passive safety—she cites the
use of materials for the body-in-white that are specifically tailored for
their application, from aluminum to boron steel—and there is a suite
of active safety systems that are fundamental to the vehicle. Again,
this is technology developed for the larger 90 series vehicles that
have been ported to the XC60.
There is the City Safety system that has long (speaking in tech
years, that is) been a part of Volvo's offerings (City Safety provides
automatic warning and full braking to mitigate low-speed collisions),
but for the new XC60, steering support has been added.
A new system offered on the vehicle that Ekholm notes is called
"Oncoming Lane Mitigation." She explains that this system makes
use of a camera to detect lane markings and radar to detect on-com-
ing traffic. Should the XC60 driver drift out of the lane, then there are
warnings and torque on the steering wheel to keep the vehicle where
it belongs. And they are offering Pilot Assist II as an option, which is
a semi-autonomous driver assistance system that handles steering,
acceleration and braking on well-marked roads up to 80 mph (the
driver is still in the loop, with hands on the wheel).
Another commonization strategy that Volvo has taken in in
Malin Ekholm, vice president, Volvo Cars Safety Centre: "We always
ask ourselves, 'Can we do more?'" Not only is the XC60 structurally
engineered to provide force absorption and occupant protection,
but there is a suite of sensor-based safety systems.
The XC60 is produced in Sweden, at the Volvo Torslanda facility.
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