[yukikaze]

http://www.leftlanenews.com/iihs-ne...-test-8-of-11-luxury-cars-perform-poorly.html

Honestly considering how late to the "game" Honda has been with reinforcing the roofs of their SUVs (the NEW MDX roof is still weaker than the near decade old XC90 and the first generation RDX ranking dead last in its category for roof strength not to mention the Honda Crosstour) I am surprised by the TL results. Other manufactures can throw all the knee airbags they want into their cars but if the structure collapses what good are they ?

 

[yukikaze]

Youtube video on this by the IIHS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2Fzp3f-C0I

What you will notice is that many if not all the poor performers push their driver's side front wheel into the cabin; IIRC Volvo started engineering the front wheel mounts as far back as the 850 in 1993 (1992 Europe?) to break away from the body in a severe impact to prevent the front wheel from intruding into the cabin.

 

[stormlv]

Nice to see IIHS finally decided to "up" their testing methods.
I'm also glad to see that our cars are behaving this good. Hope we'll never ever have to experience it ourselves though...

 

[comp1]

With two totaled Volvo's under our belt; a 2001 S60 and a 2010 S80 we will drive nothing else than a Volvo. I know other brands are better than they used to be but this new test proves that other manufactures build cars to pass tests. Safety has to be an ingrained philosophy. Thanks Volvo!

 

[VolvoCarsUS]

As yukikaze stated, recently the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (#IIHS) toughened their frontal crash test, the #Volvo S60 was ready for the challenge. The S60 earned a top rating of "good" in the new small overlap frontal crash test, making the highest-rated European luxury vehicle among those tested. Our S60 rated higher than the Infiniti G, BMW 3 Series, Acura TSX, Audi A4, Mercedes C-Class and the Lexus IS. That's quite an achievement, isn't it?

Here's the IIHS Press Release: http://bit.ly/O5Z7gc

 

[spa2k]

I'd be willing to bet that the S60 will be an IIHS Top Safety Pick for 2013.

 

[pattyweb]

Great job Volvo! Now if only the S60 were actually a car I wanted to buy.... Unfortunately, it's not. Now if you Volvo could just improve your S60 in all the OTHER areas besides safety just as the other manufacturers will now look at these results and improve their cars to perform better, maybe you'd actually have a car that isn't selling in last place. Reality however, most likely will be that the other manufacturers will respond and improve to these new tests faster than you will respond with improvements to the rest of your car.

Keep in mind though, looking at the pics between the best, Volvo, and the worst, the Lexus IS, the difference doesn't appear to me to be anywhere close to life or death. IMO, based on just the pics from the various cars, the difference is most likely absolutely no injury in the Volvo to most definitely a leg, maybe even a hand injury in the lexus. Maybe if you are 7', ok, a chest injury? And what will really happen to you in the other cars inbetween? Maybe a minor leg injury? I am not trying to make excuses for lexus, they failed miserably. But at least, thankfully, even in the worst lexus, the dummy is not crushed completely flat with the head split open and missing one side. I'm sure with this new round of testing, in a few years we'll just get even better cars in return from everybody. I can only hope that volvo improves in all the other areas that really make one happy with a car too.

Someday, they'll even add a coffee cup to the dummy (since the car is driving itself) and they'll start rating how much coffee is spilled during the accident.

 

[TrboBrik]

Keep in mind though, looking at the pics between the best, Volvo, and the worst, the Lexus IS, the difference doesn't appear to me to be anywhere close to life or death. IMO, based on just the pics from the various cars, the difference is most likely absolutely no injury in the Volvo to most definitely a leg, maybe even a hand injury in the lexus. Maybe if you are 7', ok, a chest injury? And what will really happen to you in the other cars inbetween? Maybe a minor leg injury? I am not trying to make excuses for lexus, they failed miserably. But at least, thankfully, even in the worst lexus, the dummy is not crushed completely flat with the head split open and missing one side. I'm sure with this new round of testing, in a few years we'll just get even better cars in return from everybody. I can only hope that volvo improves in all the other areas that really make one happy with a car too.

In your opinion, and only in your opinion PW. Keep in mind that the injuries are amplified at higher speeds, more than you would think I am sure. Thank you for another one of your rants, yet again, on this 'Enthusiast' site where people like you add negativity almost exclusively.

 

[ZzZz]

Kudos to Volvo, seems like their marketing is indeed more than just marketing.

I'm surprised at the results for the Mercedes though.

 

[GrecianVolvo]

In your opinion, and only in your opinion PW. Keep in mind that the injuries are amplified at higher speeds, more than you would think I am sure. Thank you for another one of your rants, yet again, on this 'Enthusiast' site where people like you add negativity almost exclusively.

And not only that but an injury, especially to a leg or a hand, can have a lasting impact on one's life.

 

[2005 R]

Great job Volvo! Now if only the S60 were actually a car I wanted to buy.... Unfortunately, it's not. Now if you Volvo could just improve your S60 in all the OTHER areas besides safety just as the other manufacturers will now look at these results and improve their cars to perform better, maybe you'd actually have a car that isn't selling in last place. Reality however, most likely will be that the other manufacturers will respond and improve to these new tests faster than you will respond with improvements to the rest of your car.

Keep in mind though, looking at the pics between the best, Volvo, and the worst, the Lexus IS, the difference doesn't appear to me to be anywhere close to life or death. IMO, based on just the pics from the various cars, the difference is most likely absolutely no injury in the Volvo to most definitely a leg, maybe even a hand injury in the lexus. Maybe if you are 7', ok, a chest injury? And what will really happen to you in the other cars inbetween? Maybe a minor leg injury? I am not trying to make excuses for lexus, they failed miserably. But at least, thankfully, even in the worst lexus, the dummy is not crushed completely flat with the head split open and missing one side. I'm sure with this new round of testing, in a few years we'll just get even better cars in return from everybody. I can only hope that volvo improves in all the other areas that really make one happy with a car too.

Someday, they'll even add a coffee cup to the dummy (since the car is driving itself) and they'll start rating how much coffee is spilled during the accident.

All of a sudden you're a safety expert because you think the pictures don't look as bad as they are? I'll tell you what, if you're man enough, rent a Lexus IS and drive into a tree at a small overlap position. If you're man enough, you'll come back and show us your injuries.

What a moron...

 

[pattyweb]

Thank you for another one of your rants, yet again, on this 'Enthusiast' site where people like you add negativity almost exclusively.

With the hope that someday Volvo will improve beyond just safety stuff

 

[mr_raider]

All of a sudden you're a safety expert because you think the pictures don't look as bad as they are? I'll tell you what, if you're man enough, rent a Lexus IS and drive into a tree at a small overlap position. If you're man enough, you'll come back and show us your injuries.

What a moron...

A little bit of kindness for teh IS please, after all I own one

The IS is an old design, from 2005, and due for refresh. I quote from the article:

http://money.cnn.com/2012/08/14/autos/luxury-cars-crash-test/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

With this new test, the Institute has raised the bar again and we will respond to this challenge as we design new vehicles," said Brian Lyons, a spokesman for Toyota Motor Sales (TM), USA, which sells Lexus vehicles.

Mercedes-Benz objected to the new test.
"As a leader in automotive safety, we have full confidence in the protection that the C-Class affords its occupants -- and less confidence in any test that doesn't reflect that," the German automaker said in a statement.

 

[dhorvath]

Another reason I like my S60...

 

[NIZMO]

nothing but awesome rating for volvo once again, glad to see volvo is still one of the worlds most safe cars/suvs out there.

 

[kmah888333]

That's awesome news! I hope that means lower insurance rates for me!

Kudos to Volvo! But more importantly KUDOS to IIHS for introducing this test and bringing it to the attention to all car manufacturers so that everyone can build a better product. I'm sure everyone will be looking at Volvo to see how they can mimic the design.

 

[matt1122]

Pattyweb, I think at this point Volvo is following all of your posts carefully making sure not to implement all of your suggestions so you never actually buy another Volvo again. They are too afraid that the cost of providing customer service to you will far exceed the profit made on the sale.

 

[pattyweb]

Pattyweb, I think at this point Volvo is following all of your posts carefully making sure not to implement all of your suggestions so you never actually buy another Volvo again. They are too afraid that the cost of providing customer service to you will far exceed the profit made on the sale.

If anything, the improvements that I, AND MANY OF YOU ALSO, would like to see would I bet lead to LESS required customer service.

EDIT: LOL, I remembered your screen name, and here you are STARTING a thread about suggested improvements (and I replied with my own ideas there too). http://forums.swedespeed.com/showthread.php?170053-What-would-you-change-about-the-2012-Volvo-S60

 

[blueandsilver]

Those videos are impressive. The Lincoln (where the airbag moves completely to the right and the dummy even misses the bag) was unbelievable... The CC also looked terrible. If these are the luxury vehicles where a lot of $$$ is invested in security, I can´t imagine how cars in other segments will fare...

The new Volvos are amazing not only in safety, but in all regards, excellent build quality, comfort, driving dynamics and design.

 

[ptpatrick]

"Mercedes-Benz objected to the new test :As a leader in automotive safety, we have full confidence in the protection that the C-Class affords its occupants -- and less confidence in any test that doesn't reflect that," the German automaker said in a statement."

God if that isnt a typical german response to a criticism I don't what is. "We know our vehicles are safe. If your test says otherwise, your test is wrong"...Just another reason why not to buy a MB...although I loved the museum in Stuttgart.