Automobile tests at Greene facility focus on crash prevention technology

RUCKERSVILLE — No dummies are needed to try out new safety features on two cars at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s vehicle research center.

Researchers are test-driving two Volvo cars that have technological features created to prevent auto crashes.

Using accident data collected from law enforcement agencies across the country, the researchers hope to estimate how many accidents could be prevented if these features, now found in Volvos and other makes, were standard in all vehicles.

Volvo manufacturers and insurance officials were in Ruckersville last week to see the cars in action, said Joseph Nolan, senior vice president of operations at the research center.

The cars will be studied for another week or so before being returned to the manufacturer, he said.

“This gives the manufacturer a chance to show off their technology,” Nolan said. “It also allows our staff to have first-hand knowledge of these features.”

The IIHS is an independent, nonprofit organization designed to reduce the number of deaths, injuries and property damage from automobile accidents. The main work at the research center is crash testing vehicles and rating their safety features.

“Our goal is to get manufacturers to make safer products,” Nolan said.

The 2008 Volvo S80, which is available for sale in the United States, has a variety of new safety features. The car, with all the “bells and whistles,” retails for $65,000, Nolan said.

The car has blind spot detection, lane departure warning, forward collision warning, adaptive headlights, adaptive cruise control and Alcoguard, which prevents the car from cranking up if the driver is intoxicated, using a fuel cell Breathalyzer installed in the vehicle — all safety features created to prevent accidents.

The blind spot detection feature can even help other drivers, Nolan said.

“It could save a lot of deaths by not running people off the road by trying to avoid the other vehicle,” Nolan said.

Through the test-driving, researchers have determined that at least one feature sounds better than it has proven to be. The adaptive cruise control, which allows a driver to keep a safe distance between himself and the car ahead of him, can actually give other drivers room to move in front and slow the car even more.

“The car then has to slow down and find another safe distance,” Nolan said.

The 2009 Volvo V70, which is currently only available in Europe, has the City Safety feature, which automatically stops a car if it gets too close to an object in front of it.

If the feature is used too much during a short time frame, the car will shut itself off and must be reset at a Volvo dealership, Nolan said.

“This technology was created for urban driving,” Nolan said.

The V70 model will be available in the United States next year, Nolan said; the retail price is not yet known.

Although the technology is new, talk about these features has been ongoing for more than 10 years, Nolan said. Some of the features are available on other manufacturer models, but each one is a little different.

“It’s going to be harder and harder in the future to jump in and drive a car,” Nolan said. “But that will also change in time.”

The center’s previous research led to government officials requiring driver and front passenger airbags to be standard in all new vehicles by 1999 and has helped to make electronic stability control (ESC) standard in all vehicles by 2012.

ESC is a feature composed of sensors and a microcomputer that continuously monitor how well a vehicle responds to a driver’s steering input. If needed, the device will apply brakes and modulate engine power to keep the vehicle traveling along the path indicated by the steering wheel position.

The new safety features are still under review and will continue to be studied.

“We try to evaluate what is the best way to communicate warnings to the drivers,” Nolan said. “It’s a work in progress.”