Unofficial Volvo Safety Tests Goes Wrong

2016 Volvo XC60 (Credit: Volvo)

Volvo has a tremendous reputation for safety, one that’s been rightfully earned both in the past and present. Because of that status, it’s understandable that people wouldn’t think twice about standing in front of a Volvo XC60 as it accelerates briskly toward them, right?

Right?

Straight from the Dominican Republic comes this video of some people gathered at what appears to be a Volvo dealership. Presumably, someone had the idea to dramatically show off how the XC60 will apply the brakes automatically to avoid hitting pedestrians, even if the driver does nothing. The people eagerly gather around, several of them with the camera on their smartphone rolling to witness the event. Only things don’t go as planned.

According to the YouTube channel for Remolacha.net, which is a Dominican news website, nobody was seriously injured in the accident. The two men who were struck by the Volvo only suffered bruises, which is a testament to Volvo’s work to minimize the damage done by front ends when striking pedestrians.

Apparently, the problem was that the person who was behind the XC60’s wheel didn’t turn on the vehicle’s City Safety system, which can include Pedestrian Detection. The feature is optional. As Motor Trend points out, the XC60 featured in the video obviously doesn’t have Pedestrian Detection, which adds a rectangular radar sensor to the grille. In other words, someone or multiple people erroneously thought that just because the crossover had a City Safety system, Pedestrian Detection was automatically included.

Without Pedestrian Detection, the system only warns the driver and applies the brakes automatically if bigger objects such as other vehicles are in the Volvo XC60’s path.

The smarter thing would’ve been to demonstrate the safety technology using something that can’t feel pain, just in case something were to go wrong. Let this be a lesson to everyone who wants to show off how smart their vehicle is: use a dummy or a cutout of your favorite celebrity.