Gothenburg, Sweden - Volvo is working towards a long-term goal of zero fatalities and serious injuries occurring in any of its cars. Although automated driver assist technologies will no doubt play the biggest role in helping to realise this ambitious goal, the Swedish carmaker is taking a wide range of steps, and that includes limiting the top speed of all its products.
To that end Volvo has announced that from this point forward, all of the new cars it sells will have an electronically limited top speed of 180km/h, following a promise made last year to introduce this limitation.
In addition, all Volvos will also come with a feature called ‘Care Key’, which allows owners to set even lower speed limitations. Similar in concept to Ford's My Key, this is a feature that parents, for instance, could use to set the car up before letting their newly-licenced child get behind the wheel. We suspect it could become the fleet manager's friend too.
“We believe that a carmaker has a responsibility to help improve traffic safety,” Volvo’s Safety Centre head Malin Ekholm said.
“Our speed limiting technology, and the dialogue that it initiated, fits that thinking. The speed cap and Care Key help people reflect and realise that speeding is dangerous, while also providing extra peace of mind and supporting better driver behaviour.”
However, Volvo does admit that the speed limiting move has proven controversial among its clients, with some questioning the rights of carmakers to impose such limitations. But the company is sticking to its guns, even if it means losing some clients:
“Volvo Cars believes it has an obligation to continue its tradition of being a pioneer in the discussion around the rights and obligations of car makers to take action that can ultimately save lives, even if this means losing potential customers,” the company said in a statement.
“The problem with speeding is that above certain speeds, in-car safety technology and smart infrastructure design are no longer enough to avoid severe injuries and fatalities in the event of an accident”.