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Pickup owners often buy trucks because they’re relatively inexpensive transportation that provides the convenience of increased hauling and towing capacities. Sports car owners are typically more focused on performance and speed than on hauling ability. What about drivers whose number-one priority is safety? Well, those would be Volvo owners. Although many of today’s manufacturers have incorporated safety features into...




Pickup owners often buy trucks because they’re relatively inexpensive transportation that provides the convenience of increased hauling and towing capacities. Sports car owners are typically more focused on performance and speed than on hauling ability. What about drivers whose number-one priority is safety?



Well, those would be Volvo owners.



Although many of today’s manufacturers have incorporated safety features into their vehicles that Volvo first pioneered, such as steel safety cages and side-impact airbags, this Swedish carmaker continues to be the standard bearer for automotive safety.



The 2010 Volvo XC90 3.2 I recently test-drove has won the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s Top Safety Pick award several times, including for the 2010-2011 model years.



The IIHS, which is funded by car insurance companies, is at times considered more demanding when it comes to vehicle safety than the government’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. For obvious monetary reasons, the IIHS has added incentive to encourage automakers to design safer vehicles.



For example, the IIHS evaluates vehicles’ roof strength during rollover accidents and assigns a rating to vehicles based on this criteria. The Volvo XC90 is one of a limited number of IIHS-tested vehicles to receive the institute’s top rating in the vehicle roof-strength test.



Of course, this is no accident. Volvo proudly boasts that it uses boron steel in the XC 90’s roof structure because the alloy makes the steel “four to five times stronger.”



Since the IIHS claims one in four accident fatalities occurs as a result of a rollover crash, it is especially comforting to know someone is trying to build a stronger roof.



For Volvo, and everyone else, the better option would be not to rollover in the first place. To this end, Volvo has provided another automotive safety first – the roll-stability control. A small gyroscope mounted under the center console keeps track of the XC90’s position in space at all times and automatically engages selective braking of one or more tires and initiates shifts in torque to help prevent a rollover when its calculations deem a likelihood of tipping over.



I can go on and on about the Volvo’s safety features, such as door handles designed to be accessible to someone wearing flame-resistant gloves, side airbags that remain inflated longer in order to protect the occupants during a rollover event, headrests that have reduced whiplash injuries by half. But the reality is that if a vehicle is uncomfortable or just plain unattractive, many buyers will pass it up, even with all the safety innovations.



I’m here to let you know you can have your cake and eat it too. The XC90 is a stylish, comfortable and luxurious SUV that can trick you into thinking it’s smaller than its dimensions. The soft edges of the long-established Volvo vernacular cloak the XC90’s 85-cubic-feet of cargo space and ability to seat seven passengers in sedan’s clothing.



And, because these Swedish engineers consider everyone’s safety, not just your family’s, Volvo boast that the front end of this vehicle has no sharp edges and the hood has enough bottoming-out space between it and the engine compartment in order to cushion the fall of an unfortunate pedestrian or bicyclist who might cross your path unawares. How thoughtful is that?



The XC90 could be considered the head of this protective family. Along with its smaller siblings, the XC60 and XC70, the XC90 tops out Volvo’s crossover of

Tags: Volvo, is-featured

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Volvo XC90: X marks the spot was originally published by New Orleans Auto Reviews: Volvo. Read the full story by clicking here.