FAIL No2: Volvo V60 Safety System Flub Ends with a Dead Dummy Named Bob

This is officially the second safety system demonstration in as many "Look at this!" announcements that has gone horribly wrong for Volvo. That's right, two. The first one was back in May and led to a new S60 estate crushing itself into the back of a truck - see the video here. This latest mishap occurred during a media demonstration to Australian journalists in Europe.

Now that the known-as-safe Volvo brand is officially owned by the Chinese, is this a sign of things to come?

The mechanism in question is part of Volvo's pedestrian avoidance technology, which makes use of cameras and radar in the nose of the vehicle to control the brakes and stability control system in order to reduce driver/pedestrian injuries. The object that the system was meant to detect was Bob the Dummy; as you can see in the vids below, it didn't detect a damn thing.

That's not to say the system is terrible; after all is said and done, it worked 75% of the time. Of the twelve runs, only one ended with Bob getting the full force of the Volvo unleashed on him, with the other two still being less than perfect. Some of the blame has been placed on a camera that doesn't work well in low-light conditions (infrared / night vision, guys?).

Volvo's Jonas Tisell, Active Safety Systems manager, told journalists, "The failure of the test was due to the dummy not being set up properly, therefore it did not give an echo enough for the system. So the dummy was not relevant in this situation." So...blame it on the dummy? And "not relevant"? How does being to blame (according to Volvo) translate as irrelevant?

More like Volvo just got caught with its pants down...again.

By Phil Alex

Via: Drive and Autoblog.com

Volvo Unleashes New C30 STCC Racer [with Video]

Volvo and its motorsports partner Polestar will begin this year's Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC) season on 24 April at Jyllandsringen in Denmark with an updated version of their ethanol-powered C30 racer based on the facelifted production model.

The new race car gets a revised front end which is longer, lower and wider, with the Swedish automaker claiming that the new design delivers a higher ground pressure at the front, and an improved airflow right around the vehicle.

"This is the fastest Volvo I've ever driven," says Volvo Polestar driver Robert Dahlgren.

"We've worked very hard to take full advantage of the new C30 facelift, spending countless hours in the wind tunnel at Volvo Cars in the process," says Jan Andersson, Technical Director of the Volvo Polestar team.

Volvo recently extended its agreement with Polestar right through to the end of the 2012 season.

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Volvo Preparing "Naughty" S60 for Geneva Show

Once a maker of some of the most boring to drive and mundane-looking bricks on wheels cars in the industry, Volvo has managed to turn up some pretty interesting proposals over the past few years - no thanks to FoMoCo's involvement.

Their latest and most likely last vehicle to be developed under the "loving" arms of Ford before the Swedish company falls into the hands of China's Geely Motors, is the all-new Volvo S60 sedan that will premiere at the Geneva Salon on March 2.

That we already knew. What we didn't know is that Volvo may surprise us with a sporty version(s) of the S60 as this blurred teaser image and a series of videos titled "Naught Volvos Are Coming" suggest.

Could it be that the Swedes are preparing the return of the 'R' series with a hotted up version of the 2011 S60 sedan?

That we'll have to wait until the opening of the Geneva Motor Show to find out, but we wouldn't be surprised if all this "naughty" promo-talk ends up being just another aero package of the same kind as Audi's S-Line or BMW's M Sport Packs.

Hat tip to 'Coco' for the photo and tip!

Video Galore: The New Volvo S60 Sedan Filmed In, Out and on the Road

Together with a full set of images and detailed specs, Volvo also published several video clips of the all-new 2011 S60 sedan including a short promotional film, driving footage, beauty shots and even one that shows the car slamming into a wall during the safety tests.

The new Swedish mid size sedan with the refreshing styling will have its formal debut at the Geneva Salon next month and go on sale this summer.

At launch, the 2011 S60 will offer a menu of two petrol and two diesel engines (depending on the market) including a new 2.0-liter turbocharged gasoline unit with 203HP. Watch the videos after the break.

2011 Volvo S60: New Video Gives us a Complete View of Swedish Sedan

Following the release of the first teaser photos of the all-new 2011 S60 back in November, Volvo has now published a new video that gives us a full view of its small executive sedan that will make its world premiere at the Geneva Salon in March 2010. Closely based on the concept model that appeared at the 2009 Detroit Show, the new S60 is squarely aimed at the Audi A4, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and BMW 3-Series.

Volvo, which will soon pass on to the hands of China's Geely Motors, has released very little information on the car but the company did say that the new S60 will be more driver orientated that its predecessor.

While it is not clear yet how the sale will affect the S60's engine range, it is believed that Ford's new EcoBoost 1.6-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine featuring turbocharging, direct injection and outputs ranging from 150 to 180 horsepower will be amongst the offerings.

Via: Autoblog.com

VIDEO: 2011 Volvo S60 Drawn on Paper by Blind Turkish Artist

Automakers and their respective marketing departments / advertising agencies come up with all sorts of ideas to generate interest in their current or future products - some successful, others not so much. For the promotion of its new 2011 S60 sedan that will be officially revealed at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2010, Volvo's Live Communication and Social Media decided to take a rather unconventional approach by calling in a blind Turkish artist named Esref Armagan to 'sample' the finished model and draw a picture of the car.

"Since the car itself is not being launched until the Geneva Motor Show next year, this is a unique way for us to show an extraordinary artist's rendition of the forthcoming model," commented Lukas Dohle, director of Live Communication and Social Media at Volvo Cars.

As you may suspect, Armagan, who is said to have painted everything from historic buildings, seascapes, flowers and forests to a portrait of former US President Bill Clinton, uses his hands and the rest of his senses to recognize the shape of the object he is painting.

This however, was the first time that the talented Turkish artist attempted to draw a car. "It was an honour for me to be asked to do this and I take it as a confirmation of my ability as an artist," said Esref Armagan.

VIDEO: Swedes Test Drive 2011 Volvo S60 Sedan Prototype with Automatic Braking System

The next-generation Volvo S60, which is based on the 2009 Detroit Show concept, won't be launched onto the market until summer of 2010, but the folks over at Sweden's Teknikensvarld magazine were invited by Volvo to Copenhagen, Denmark to check out a prototype version fitted with firm's new "Automatic Braking System". As you may have already guessed, the test vehicle was slathered in cladding, so don't expect to get a preview of the car.

What we do get to see are some details of the interior and of course, a taste of the "Automatic Braking System" - Volvo's next generation of preventive safety technology that detects pedestrians who have walked into the roadway and automatically avoid collisions at speeds under 25 km/h (16mph) if the driver does not react in time.

Once the system detects the pedestrians, it warns the driver through a series of audio and visual alerts on the windscreen's head-up display. Volvo says that if the driver does not respond to the warnings and the system assesses that a collision is about to happen, then it automatically applies the car's brakes with full braking power.

Hat tip to Bobby from Bilfeber! Source: Teknikensvarld