Inside The Mind Of An Automotive Geek

Swedish automaker Volvo has always been known as a producer of safe cars. For eighty years now, the automaker has been pelting us with safety features after safety features. With the number of accidents taking lives, each safety feature developed by automakers such as Volvo are really heaven-sent. And just when we though that it will be a long wait for the next breakthrough from Volvo, it announced that it will be using an enhanced safety feature for its vehicles and the whole package will be released before the end of the year.

This feature is the Collision Warning with Auto Brake feature. This feature essentially activates the car's brakes when it senses that the vehicle is on a collision course with a stationary or a moving vehicle in front of it. Ingrid Skogsmo, the director of Volvo's safety center extolled the benefit of this feature, saying: "This can mean the difference between a serious injury and minor consequences for the occupants of both vehicles."

The safety features uses radar and a camera to gauge the distance between the car and the vehicle in front of it. If the distance between the two cars reaches the a certain threshold, the driver will be warned through flashing lights and audible warnings. The onboard computer will also prime the brakes, pushing the brake pads closer to the disc so that the brakes can be applied instantly with just a bit of a pressure on the brake pedal. And when the computer senses a that collision is inevitable, it will apply the brakes thus reducing the impact or totally avoiding a crash.

Jonas Tisell, the technical project manager for Collision Warning with Auto Brake at Volvo Cars, said: "Since the system combines information both from the radar sensor and the camera, it gives such a high confidence level that automatic braking is possible if a collision is imminent. The system is programmed to activate autonomous braking only if both sensors agree that the situation is critical."

Data shows that one out of three accidents involving cars are rear-collisions. In fifty percent of those cases, the driver of a car does not brake at all. This may be due to a driver panicking when caught in a position where they are in danger of hitting the car in front. There are even cases when due to panic, drivers step on the gas pedal instead of the brake pedal.

The automaker announced that the feature will be available with the Volvo S80, the V70, and the XC70 by the end of this year.