V40 takes safety award

The Volvo V40 has won the Safest Car category in Carbuyer’s Best Car Awards 2015.

The awards are based on the 20 biggest questions buyers asked the Carbuyer team and for 2015, greater emphasis has been placed on what buyers are searching for.

The Volvo V40 received the top rating of five stars in the Euro NCAP collision test in 2012 and the overall result was the best ever recorded by the institute, and still is to this day. Euro NCAP publishes overall rating for each car model, plus the results of four different sub-categories, adults occupant protection, child protection, pedestrian protection and safety assist.

When the V40 was launched, it also introduced a safety world first, the pedestrian airbag. The system uses sensors in the front bumper to trigger pyrotechnics to release the bonnet hinges, allowing it to be raised by the inflated airbag that covers the lower part of the windscreen and the A-pillars, helping reduce injuries.

During the development of the Volvo V40, the goal was to build in the same safety level as in larger cars. The holistic approach, a strong structure and systems such as City Safety form the basis for building the safest car. Volvo is the only manufacturer to fit AEB (autonomous emergency braking) as standard to its entire range.

While the fitment of city safety helps reduce accidents and injuries, it also helps lower insurance premiums for buyers as the fitment is taken into account when calculating the vehicle insurance group rating.

Other safety systems such as Pedestrian and cyclist detection with full autobrake and blind spot information system can be fitted as a cost option to the Volvo V40, all helping towards Volvo’s target that by 2020, that nobody should die or be seriously injured in a new Volvo

Volvo is synonymous with safety, ever since it started producing cars back in 1927. Inventors of the three-point seatbelt, now a standard feature in all but a handful of cars, plus many more safety features can be attributed to Volvo through its history. Technology advancements in safety never cease, with new systems such as the introduction of at City Safety (autonomous emergency braking) at junctions and Run-off Road Protection, introduced in the all-new Volvo XC90 as standard.