Volvo Crashed An EX90 Into An EX30 To See What Happens When Safety Tech Fails

Volvo recently crashed two of its electric crossovers together to test what happens when technology like emergency braking fails to do its job. The test was conducted at the company’s crash center in Torslanda, Gothenburg, and Top Gear was in attendance to give us a rundown of the crash and its aftermath.

The EX30 is the brand’s smallest EV on offer, but that doesn’t make it any less safe than the upcoming EX90 flagship SUV. Given the EX90 is derived from the company’s supremely safe XC90, there’s no surprise it would fair well in a crash even with all the extra EV heft, but it was worth seeing what would happen when this 6,000+ lbs behemoth slams into the side of its considerably smaller sibling.

Crash Testing With Unsurprising Results

For the test, the EX30 was going to be T-boned by the larger EX90 going at a decent pace. With the EX30 traveling at 12 mph, two dummies were placed on the driver’s side of the vehicle that was to be hit, and the EX90 then had two adult dummies and one child dummy with the car set to do the ramming at 31 mph.

Volvo determined that intrusion into the passenger compartment of the EX30 was minimal and that the brunt of the impact was dispersed among the panels and myriad of airbags, just like it was designed. On the EX90, the damage was unsurprisingly even less, and the company determined that all occupants would have been able to easily walk away from the accident.

Volvo’s Advanced Safety System Will Make Your Car Much Safer

Luckily, given how advanced Volvo’s safety systems are, you’ll have ample opportunity to avert a crash completely and avoid the exorbitant repair costs. All upcoming Volvo models carry a host of crash avoidance and advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) under the Safe Space technology umbrella that not only keep you out of trouble but also make you a better driver in general.

These systems learn your driving habits to determine when you’re distracted or sleepy, but won’t engage too much to the point you turn it off out of annoyance. It’s meant to feel as natural as possible, and models like the EX90 are even equipped with a host of sensors and a LiDar system on the roof that give you advanced Level 2 autonomous driving capability. Safety and Volvo go hand-in-hand, so none of these systems will be stuck behind subscriptions, at least for now.