Volvo’s pedestrian protection wins award

VOLVO Car Group’s pioneering work on pedestrian protection has been rewarded with the 2013 Global NCAP Innovation Award.

The prize was received by Professor Lotta Jakobsson, Senior Technical Specialist Safety at Volvo Cars Safety Centre, at the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV) Conference in Seoul, South Korea.

At the ESV Conference, Professor Lotta Jakobsson held a presentation about Volvo Cars’ outstanding achievements within pedestrian protection. She presented a paper on the Pedestrian Airbag Technology in the new Volvo V40.

“The purpose of the world’s first airbag for pedestrians is to help protect these vulnerable road users in certain situations when they impact the bonnet and the area around the windscreen, where there may be a risk of serious head injuries,” she said.

In China, 25 per cent of traffic fatalities are pedestrians. In Europe, the figure is 14 per cent and in the USA 12 per cent. Far larger numbers of pedestrians are injured. The most serious head injuries involving pedestrians and cars are caused by the hard structure under the bonnet panel, the windscreen’s lower edge and the A-pillars.

In 2010, Volvo Cars counteracted the statistics by launching Pedestrian Detection with full auto brake. The system can avoid a collision with a pedestrian at speeds of up to 35 km/h if the driver does not respond in time. At higher speeds, the focus is on reducing the car’s speed as much as possible before the collision.

In order to mitigate the consequences if a collision with a pedestrian is unavoidable, the Volvo V40, launched in 2012, comes equipped with the world’s first Pedestrian Airbag Technology.