Volvo wins Safety Award 2011 at the What Car? Car of the Year Awards
Volvo's latest ground-breaking safety innovation, Pedestrian Detection with Full Auto Brake, has won the Safety Award at the 2011 What Car? Car of the Year Awards, held in London on Thursday 13th January 2011.
Currently available on the all-new S60, V60 and XC60, Pedestrian Detection with Full Auto Brake is designed to complement Volvo’s City Safety and using a mixture of laser, radar and camera technology is able to recognise a human form above 80cm tall (or a vehicle) ahead and will brake the vehicle automatically if it calculates an impending impact.
The technology can avoid a collision with a pedestrian at speeds up to 21 mph if the driver does not react in time. At higher speeds, the focus is on reducing the car’s speed as much as possible prior to the impact.
"Volvo has long been the pioneer of all things safety, from the three point safety belt to this latest innovation" said Steve Fowler, What Car? Editor in Chief. "It's great to know that Volvo is putting as much emphasis on keeping pedestrians safe as it does those inside its cars. For that, it's deserving of this year's What Car? Safety Award" he concluded.
Accepting the award was Peter Rask, Regional President of Volvo Car UK, Ireland and Iceland. "It is a great pleasure to receive this award. It is in recognition of Volvo's continuing leadership in the field of vehicle safety innovations and technology. Pedestrian Detection with Full Auto Brake is another world–first that Volvo has brought to market, to join a long line of safety advancements, helping us towards our mission that no-one will be killed or seriously injured in a new Volvo car by 2020" said Rask.