The brand says this is the first study of its kind, with other similar investigations being conducted by independent organisations on singular models, rather than entire manufacturer line-ups. It’s also important to highlight how many safety features present in contemporary Volvo models are also available on their competitors. Yet aside from being a marketing exercise, Volvo says that publishing its findings could also raise awareness for safety inequality: “It’s like a cookbook of what you could do [and] how you could do [it] if you are interested in addressing different areas,” Jakobssen said.
She told us that current safety regulations focus on “addressing singular points which are super-important to get the five stars, but may not represent the real world”. By shining a light on the real-world infinite variability of different scenarios and body types, Volvo believes it has the potential to incite innovation from both manufacturers and lawmakers for the benefit of everyone.
In its ‘Vision 2030’ mission statement, Euro NCAP has proposed introducing the THOR-5F dummy in order to help evaluate whether a car is correctly “designed for all”. Yet while Jakobssen says that any widening of safety regulations is “good”, the sheer amount of tests required to cater for absolutely everyone makes legislating for it unviable. With this in mind, she’s calling on other manufacturers to innovate, claiming: “It's all about your own ambition. If you want to go that extra mile, then that pays up.
“If you address that vulnerable person, the good thing is the other one is protected too, because they are better off from the start,” Jakobssen explained. “There's a lot of regulation[s] for cars that help protect everyone, like you're not allowed to have sharp edges inside the compartment in some areas where you're likely to impact. And that benefits everybody. That doesn't have any gender difference.”
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