Today, the sales of Volvo cars equipped with systems for automatic braking passed the one million mark - another milestone that confirms Volvo Car Group's world-leading position within automotive safety.

Volvo Cars' technology for automatic braking includes several world firsts: City Safety, which is standard and works at speeds up to 50 km/h; Collision Warning with full auto brake; and Pedestrian and Cyclist Detection with full auto brake.

"Several recent reports state that our ground-breaking auto braking technologies help reduce the risk of being involved in a rear-end accident by more than 20 percent. One million Volvos with auto brake on the roads take us towards our aim that nobody should be killed or suffer serious injuries in a new Volvo car by the year 2020," says Thomas Broberg, Senior Safety Advisor at Volvo Car Group.

Auto brake efficiency documented 

The efficiency of Volvo Cars' approach has recently been highlighted:

• The benefits of the ground-breaking City Safety technology - featuring automatic braking in low speed situations - were documented in a 2011 IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety) report, which stated a significant reduction in insurance claim frequencies.
• A similar study in 2012 by the Swedish insurance company Volvia shows that Volvos equipped with City Safety are involved in 23 per cent fewer rear-end frontal collisions than cars without auto brake. 
• Findings by the Swedish insurance company Folksam show that City Safety reduces injuries by 64 percent for people in cars hit from behind on roads with a 50km/h speed limit. In situations in which City Safety has been activated but the crash has not been completely avoided, the injury reduction is around 40 percent. 
• The final 2012 report from the EuroFOT research projects concludes that a car with adaptive cruise control and collision warning cuts the risk of colliding with the vehicle in front on a motorway by up to 42 percent.

Focus on more support for the driver

Future Volvos will feature further improvements to existing safety systems as well as new solutions. The focuses of Volvo Car Group's present research within auto brake technology include also making more systems efficient while driving at night. Upcoming solutions will also cover more objects and situations.

"With smart interaction and new advanced solutions we will continue to contribute to further helping avoid collisions from occurring. Moreover, in our most recent car models we have reduced moderate to severe injuries by two-thirds compared with the rate for the older car models. And we are working continuously on new solutions that will bring the figure down even further," says Thomas Broberg.

Auto brake technology overview

How Volvo Cars' present auto brake technology works:

• With the standard City Safety, the car applies the brakes automatically if the driver fails to react in time when the vehicle in front suddenly slows down or stops. The system is active at speeds up to 50 km/h.
• Pedestrian and Cyclist Detection with full auto brake is a ground-breaking technological solution. It can detect pedestrians who walk into the road as well as cyclists in front of the car, and warn the driver and automatically apply full braking power if the driver does not respond in time.
• Collision Warning with full auto brake, active at all speeds, can help avoid collisions if the speed difference is 35 km/h or lower. If the relative speed is higher the collision impact will be reduced. The brakes are applied automatically if the driver does not act in response to the warning when a rear-end collision with another vehicle is imminent.