[ColdDayInHell]

Having been in the business of making incredibly safe vehicles for decades, Volvo is going one step further and making a "virtually" injury-proof car by the year 2020. "Virtually," because it will ensure all occupents survive all but the craziest wrecks.

The Swedish automaker is leading a race to create a "matrix of systems" that use radar, sonar and other technology to prevent and mitigate crashes. In the event of a crash, when most drivers freeze, the car would steer and brake on its own. Cutting pre-impact speed by even 10 mph would cut the death rate in half, so self-braking systems are key to reducing traffic fatalities.

Volvo's long been at the forefront of vehicle safety. It invented three-point safety belts and was the first to use crumple zones, side-impact airbags and rear-facing child seats.

To reach the 2020 deadline -- 12 years isn't that long in the auto industry -- Volvo has stepped up testing at its vehicle-safety testing center in Gothenburg, Sweden, where it stages 400 accidents a year. They've got two 150-meter tunnels, including the auto industry’s only rotating test tunnel, where engineers can replicate head-on and side-impact collisions and even dunk a car in a pond. With all the ways they've developed to destroy a car, Volvo's got the world’s most advanced car and test-dummy torture chamber.

Volvo, which is owned by Ford Motor Co., is not alone in pursuing the injury-proof car, which Sweden's head of traffic safety calls the biggest revolution in the auto industry since the seatbelt. But the competition is catching up and Volvo wants to stay ahead of Lexus, with its Pre-Collision System, and Mercedes Benz with its PRE-SAFE braking system. With other car companies vying for Volvo’s once-exclusive rep as the safest thing on four wheels, the Swedish company is the first to strive for an injury-proof car.

Source/Source

[glamourgrl]

Wow, this is really cool, since having my kids I'm always worrying about "what if I get into an accident". This would be piece of mind for me.

[magosienne]

that's cool, but i wonder the price of that beauty when it will hit the market.

[Adrienne]

yea I know. The way things are going it also better run on water.