2014 Volvo S80 grabs IIHS Top Safety Pick Plus+

The second-generation Volvo S80 has been with us since 2008, and just a year before its scheduled replacement with an all-new model it has managed to grab a Top Safety Pick+ rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The S80 now joins its XC90, XC60, and S60 siblings in receiving this accolade, which was instituted just last year when the IIHS created a new type of crash test called the small overlap test.

The small overlap test is designed to recreate a rather typical road accident scenario, one which hadn't been added to the roster of crash tests by most vehicle organizations. The small overlap test measures what happens when the front corner of a vehicle strikes a stationary object at 40 mph, essentially inflicting a glancing blow where only a quarter of the front of the vehicle is actually striking an object. In real life conditions this tends to often happen when cars hit a disabled vehicle on the side of the road, or when a car hits the nose of another vehicle which is just entering the road. Because of the speed and the offset nature of the strike, these tend to be very dangerous accidents, and they're far more common than a car just hitting a stationary object such as a wall with 100 percent of its front. Even though that is what a lot of older crash tests have tended to test, the frequency of accidents where 100 percent of the car's front strikes a stationary object is smaller that you'd think.

"Our safety cage features a robust design with a blend of different steel qualities," said Thomas Broberg, senior safety advisor at Volvo. "The new IIHS test program confirms the exceptional crashworthiness of this patented solution. Similar mixes of steel qualities are used in all current Volvo models, and the technology will be further enhanced in the upcoming models developed on our Scalable Product Architecture."

From 2014 onward the IIHS will be implementing a new type of test -- a first for the industry -- which will rate the performance of front crash-prevention systems. So the quality that will be tested will be the car's own ability to detect and maneuver around an object or a pedestrian that suddenly appears in its path.

A number of Volvo cars, specifically the S60, XC60, and S80, already feature safety technology such as City Safety and Collision Warning with Full Auto Brake and Pedestrian Detection, and the upcoming replacement for the XC90 features an even broader range of hazard detection technology.

The Volvo S80 will be replaced by an all-new car for the 2015 model year, and we expect the 2015 model to feature an even greater array of active safety features.

By Jay Ramey