Thanks to my late great-grandma Gertrud and a meatball encumbered childhood, I’ve always had a soft spot for anything Swedish.  Not forgetting the great innovations of Ikea and H&M, Sweden has contributed some great products to the American culture .  Above all,  I must admit that Volvo ranks among my favorite Swedish contributions.  Even though Grandma Gertrud never actually owned a car, I’d like to think that if she were still around today, she’d prefer to ride behind the dash of an S60.

Their slogan “For Life.” is entirely appropriate on two levels.  Volvo’s are undoubtedly known for their durability and powertrain lifespan.  Alternately, Volvo is referring to the life of its drivers and passengers.  Modern vehicles have made leaps and bounds when it comes to crash tests and safety features and yet Volvo somehow always manages raise the bar.  This past week alone, Volvo engineers have been spotted in Copenhagen testing new safety features for next year’s sporty S60.

The new technology they were testing includes Collision Warning with Full Auto Brake and Pedestrian Detection.  This feature will be introduced on the Volvo S60 in 2010. For over a decade, Volvo Cars’ safety experts have been testing Pedestrian Detection technology to help perfect the automatic braking system and Madison new car dealers highly anticipate the final product.

Even More Life Saving Technology

Thomas Broberg, Senior Safety Advisor at Volvo Cars stated, “Factors like traffic behaviour, road conditions and climate must be taken into account in the design of the final system. All told we have collected more than 500,000 kilometres of real-life data. We can also use the information from these traffic tests to conduct advanced computer simulations.”

Volvo is concerned for the safety of both drivers and pedestrians and automatic braking technology is an active step in the right direction.  According to Volvo:

“Collision Warning with Full Auto Brake and Pedestrian Safety consists of a new dual-mode radar unit integrated into the car’s grille, a camera behind the inside rear-view mirror and a central control unit. The radar and camera continuously monitor the road in front of the car. The radar’s task is to detect objects and measure the distance to them. The camera determines what type of objects they are.

In an emergency situation, the driver is first alerted by an audible warning together with a flashing light in the windscreen’s head-up display. In order to prompt an immediate, intuitive reaction, the visual warning is designed to look like a brake light coming on. If the driver does not respond to the warning and the system assesses that a collision is imminent, the car’s brakes are applied with full braking power.”

And with this, Volvo continues to live up to its slogan.  Quite literally…

Welcome to our Fields Madison blog! We’ll be posting about Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles as well as posting about the latest news from those manufacturers and our dealership. We hope to see you back here often to read our newest posts. Also, check our our Madison dealer website, where you will find a great selection of Madison new cars and Madison used cars to choose from.

If you’re looking for service for your vehicle, we offer a Madison oil change service at our dealership as well as comprehensive service for your auto.