Volvo Cars Safety Centre Turns 20 This Year

Known for pioneering advanced safety technologies over the years, Volvo is celebrating the 20-year anniversary of its state-of-the-art testing centre. Built in 2000, the Volvo Cars Safety Centre is where Volvo tests its vehicles in countless ways to ensure ultimate safety.

The facility features two test tracks, the longest measuring 154 metres long. The short track can be angled to between 0 and 90 degrees in order to simulate different types of crashes up to 120 km/h. Moreover, the centre has an enormous barrier that weighs an unbelievable 850 tonnes and that can serve to create side, front, and rear crashes.

“Being committed to safety is not about passing a test or getting a safety rating,” said Thomas Broberg, one of Volvo Cars’ leading safety engineers and a two-decade company veteran. “Our commitment to safety is about finding out how and why accidents and injuries occur and then developing the technology to help prevent them. We hope our pioneering work will inspire others to follow, our ambition to reduce road traffic casualties world wide.”

The Volvo Cars Safety Centre is where Volvo tested extreme collision scenarios last month by dropping cars from 30 metres using a crane.

“No matter what the scenario, we can recreate it here at the Volvo Cars Safety Centre and analyse it in detail,” said Thomas Broberg. “For me it is very inspiring to realise that for every hour of testing and analysis we put in, we get closer and closer to our ambition that no one should be killed or seriously injured in a new Volvo.”