Volvo and the New Car Assessment Program – also known as NCAP – enjoy a shared history, writes Olle Hällstén (Transport News’ Scandinavian correspondent).
Allow me to explain. In 1994, we Swedes introduced Vision Zero. Its central thought was that ‘no loss of life is acceptable’.
Vision Zero also understands that we are human and that we can and will make mistakes. As motorists, to counter our innate ability to err the road system we travel along must be designed to protect everyone – from motorist to pedestrian – at every turn.
Shutterstock.
Three years later, the Swedish parliament passed a Road Traffic Safety Bill that put the Vision Zero into law with a target of no deaths or serious injuries on Sweden’s roads by 2020 and not to be merely satisfied in reducing accidents to an economically manageable level. A higher standard of road design was introduced with older roads modified.
Our idea – we take collective ownership of good concepts and let someone else take the blame for bad proposals – has been adopted by many others.
As we looked at improving the infrastructure of asphalt, concrete and grassy knolls, others were looking at the moving objects that prowled along the highways.
The newly formed European Union had also been busy with its European Experimental Vehicles Committee (EEVC) that assessed car secondary safety; the technology designed to protect occupants after a crash, rather than preventing it.
EEVC research resulted in full scale crash test procedures that protected car occupants in frontal and side impact scenarios, and a component test procedure for assessing the protection of pedestrians hit by the fronts of cars. The New Car Assessment Program, shortened to NCAP, was born.
Car makers resisted plans for EEVC test proposals to be introduced. In 1994 – hey, the same year as we came up with Vision zero – the United Kingdom’s Department for Transport considered housing NCAP so it could later expand across Europe, based on the test procedures developed by the EEVC.
SECONDARY SOLUTIONS
Two years later, the Swedish National Road Administration, the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile and International Testing were the first organisations to join the car safety test programme. This resulted in Euro NCAP being formed.
The first four-star Euro NCAP car was the Volvo S40, very much still a part of AB Volvo alongside the truck making business. SHUTTERSTOCK.
For the first phase of tests, seven smallish cars were chosen and manufacturers were asked to supply information on specification.
In February 1997, the first Euro NCAP results were presented for Adult Occupant Protection and Pedestrian Protection ratings. The results were… …inauspicious.
Car makers lashed out criticising Euro NCAP, its tests and its ratings. So strict were the tests no car could achieve four stars for occupant protection, they argued.
Five months later, results from a second phase of tests were published and Euro NCAP announced that the Volvo S40 had become the first four-star car for occupant protection.
A victory for AB Volvo as it owned both the car and commercial vehicle businesses until January 1999, when Volvo Group sold Volvo Car Corporation to Ford Motor Company for $6.45 billion. This allows the Volvo truck division to tenuously lay claim to the S40 Euro NCAP success. No word as to which board room displays the trophy.
The rest is history.
THE WAGONS
Twenty-seven years later, perhaps Volvo was okay that Euro NCAP had finally turned its attention to trucks. Could Volvo repeat the same success as Sweden’s best known football team Malmö FF and do a double by claiming the first truck test as Volvo had for cars?
The answer, of course, was yes. For Volvo, Euro NCAP success endorsed the safety culture that is often spoken about by senior management in Göteborg.
NEW NCAP CHALLENGES
As the Euro NCAP report Safer Trucks: on the Road to Vision Zero pointed out, the new ‘rating scheme will enable all stakeholders in the freight industry to identify and assess the safety level of equipment in their heavy truck fleets’.
And it was Rikard Fredriksson, vehicle safety advisor of the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) and member Euro NCAP Board, whose voice we heard first: “In Sweden, we see head-on crashes, and especially with heavy trucks, as one of the biggest challenges in developing a safe road transport system.
“Based on the successful experience of Euro NCAP passenger car testing saving lives, we expect Euro NCAP’s new rating scheme for heavy trucks to be a strong tool in addressing this major issue on our country’s roads.”
Indeed. On Swedish roads trucks are involved in a disproportionate number of fatal accidents. Approximately 45 people die annually in accidents involving heavy trucks, and in the majority of these cases, the victim is in a passenger car. While trucks only represent 6% of mileage, they are involved in 20% of fatal road accidents, according to Trafikverket.
This, of course, is similar for all the other countries.
When the first Euro NCAP results were announced, Volvo in fact did a double double. Like the S40, it claimed first prize in the inaugural car test, but this time both the FH and FM received the top rating of five stars. Of the two, the FM also had the best overall test result among all tested trucks, and let’s be clear, all the manufacturers took part.
To get a Euro NCAP five-star rating a truck must meet the General Safety Regulation 2 level, launched by the European Union to reduce deaths and serious injuries on the road through using safety technologies as standard vehicle equipment.
This includes Emergency Stop Signal, Reversing Safety Camera, Blind Spot Information System, Intelligent Speed Assistance, Driver Alert Support, Alcohol Interlock Installation and the Moving Off Information System.
Meeting the challenge head on (sorry for that pun) Volvo achieved five-stars with its Camera Monitoring System, Predictive Cruise Control with Speed Adaptation, Volvo Dynamic Steering, Lane Change Support, Passenger Corner Camera, Passenger Side-Turn Emergency Brake and Headway Support.
President of Volvo Trucks Roger Alm was moved to say: “This outstanding result makes me so proud as it confirms Volvo Trucks’ leading position in safety. Safety is a core value for us and a cornerstone in our heritage. Safety has been guiding us from the very start of our company – and with every new product launch we are making our trucks even safer.”
And to cement the point, Volvo Trucks traffic and product safety director Anna Wrige Berling added that: “This is proof of our consistent efforts in safety developments to go beyond what is required by legislation, towards our vision of zero accidents involving our trucks.
“Euro NCAP ratings will guide customers in their purchase decisions as well as challenge vehicle manufacturers to continuously work to improve safety.”
SPECIAL EDITION
So, how best to exploit being best at safety? For operators in the United Kingdom and Ireland, there is an opportunity to have a ‘special edition’ Volvo FH Aero ‘Euro NCAP’ truck.
Source: Volvo.
Only 30 are available.
Director of new vehicle sales across the United Kingdom and Ireland is Hannah Mayo. “Achieving five stars in Euro NCAP’s inaugural truck test was a significant milestone,” he announced, “we wanted to create a striking special edition model to help our customers stand out and demonstrate their commitment to safety.
“The FH Aero’s distinctive profile already ensures effortless cruising at high speed, great fuel efficiency, and a commanding view for the driver – now backed by independently proven safety credentials which are second-to-none.”
That the Vision Zero tag is now used for road safety and vehicle safety shows that it is ingrained into the Swedish psyche and achieving five-stars has only confirmed to senior management in the corridors of head office at Herkulesgatan 75 that Volvo is on the right road.
