Volvo S60 2009 News

Volvo, Subaru, Land Rover, Citroen and GM have issued safety recalls for some vehicles due to defective manufacturing issues.

It's a new Volvo S60 and it uses an updated and improved version of the City Safety system that already helps XC60 drivers avoid low-speed rear-enders.A combination of camera and radar scans ahead of the vehicle, looking for what the vehicle's pre-programmed computers already know is a human being. The sensors look for a combination of sizes and shapes, also looking at movement, to know if the person is likely to step into the path of the vehicle. It sounds complicated, and it is.Watching a computer simulation of the system is fascinating, not just because it can pick out human shapes but because it can monitor so many at the same time and then detect the ones which are likely to blunder into the path of a car .Like a youngster chasing a ball …Things get more impressive during a live demonstration.Heading at 25km/h towards a life-sized child dummy is not fun, but the Volvo does its job and applies emergency braking to pull up short with no threat to the dummy. It works with an adult-sized dummy too, and the XC70 test car also has the City Safety system I found some impressive in the XC60.It's only a slow-speed system, but — unlike a Toyota project I tried several years ago — it works and it's real. Volvo has a complicated name for its system, including words like 'auto braking' and 'human sensing', but after the demonstration in Sweden I think it should be tagged simply as KidSafe.Volvo intends to have KidSafe in the S60 in Australia before the end of 2010, with a rapid rollout across the range. It's not cheap but, like all safety systems, it will be standard equipment and will make a genuine difference on the world's roads.Meanwhile, a battery electric car in a major crash sounds like a recipe for disaster. Acid everywhere, live cables, leaking gases ... That's why Volvo is smashing through the barriers to having its first plug-in electric car on the road by 2012. It has just rammed the back end of a battery test car at better than 50km/h to see exactly what happens with its experimental battery safety cell. The good news is, nothing ...The back of the V70 wagon was destroyed but the heavyweight structure around the battery pack stayed intact, there was no fluid leakage, and the rest of the car was not compromised.Now Volvo is looking to transfer the knowledge into its upcoming plug- in cars, and the hybrids it also sees as part of its future. "Electrification gives much more energy for transport. It's a key opportunity," says Dr Marten Levenstam, who heads long-range strategy and innovation at Volvo. 

So does one of the engineers in the cabin, who was so upset at being caught by the Carparazzi team that he vented his annoyance with a signal to the snappers. The car in question is the all-new Volvo S60 and the reason for the secrecy and concern is that it sets an all-new design and safety direction for the Swedish brand.It is very close to the concept car shown at the Detroit Motor Show earlier this year, complete with a coupe-style rounded roof but without the rear-hinged door on the prototype.Volvo is relying on the new S60 to revitalise its following and also cement its future by ensuring a viable sale out of the Ford empire. "Unless we deliver on the plan then the ownership doesn't matter," says Steve O'Dell, head of Volvo Cars, speaking to Carsguide at the Frankfurt Motor Show. "Ford has declared and re-affirmed tat Volvo is for sale. But it's not a fire sale.We are trying to find the right potential owner." O'Dell says Volvo has cut staff and production to get it through the global economic crisis and back into consistent profit. "We'll come through the downturn. But you cannot cost save to a profit, you have to have great products." He believes the S60 will be great, with a high-efficiency DrivE powertrain including a direct-injection, 1.6-litre petrol engine with a twin-clutch transmission.The target is fuel consumption of just 5.0L/100km with class leading CO2 emissions. The efficient new engines are a centrepiece of Volvo's planning, giving the company the green credentials to match its safety record. "They have been in the pipeline for two to three years. The target is 99 grams/kilometre for the C30," says O'Dell."The S60 will be ready in the (European) spring next year." On the safety front, the S60 will be the first Volvo with an all-new system that detects pedestrians and will brake automatically at up to 25km/h to prevent an impact. It will join the existing City Safety system for car-to-car crash avoidance and such Volvo innovations as blind-spot warnings and a system which warns a driver if it detects signs of drowsiness.

And it will be in Australia by the end of 2010. Despite ongoing questions about the ownership, funding and model makeup of the Swedish company, Volvo is driving forward with a benchmark replacement for its mid-sized S60.It's the car with the make-or-break task of building on the success of the compact C30 and the classy XC60, which is the new hero in the prestige SUV class."The S60 at the moment is the oldest car in our lineup. It's also in a segement that's extremely agressive, but very big worldwide. It's the class with the 3 Series BMW, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and Audi A4," says the managing director of Volvo Australia, Alan Desselss."The S60, as nice a car as it is, is not being able to fight with the modernisation of that class. This new S60 is clearly going to challenge that very seriously."Volvo has already previewed the S60 Concept car, showing an all-new design direction that is much more stylish than its current slad-sided sedans. It still has Volvo's signature hips, but the shape is more flowing and the end result is much more 21st century."I think it gives a very clear statement of where the brand is going.And that's the exciting thing," says Desselss."There is a huge hoo-hah about whether Ford is selling Volvo or not, but the future product lineup is extremely good for the brand. Never before hasve the swedes been so focussed on building emotional cars."They look good and drive well. It started with C30, then the XC60, and now the S60."Peter Horbury, the man who made his name with the 'Bin the Box' approach to Volvo design, has just moved back to the company after leading Ford design in North America but Desselss says the upcoming S60 is the work of a newer generation."It's new design. Steve Matlin did the car and it's his first project from go to whoa. It is totally different in every respect," Dessells says.With the S60 coming up fast, he is also happy to give the first serious indications on the car's timing."The production car will be shown in Detroit next year at the motor show in January and we hope to have it in Australia by quarter four next year. If we're lucky. But possibly the first quarter the year after."