Vehicle safety technology ranks as one of the top features among those that are desired by motorists who travel with children. And, since Volvo has always focused on safety, it remains to be the favorite choice for families… and apparently for Forbes.com as well.

Ahead of the Acura MDX, the Saab 9-3 Sport Combi, the Mercedes M Class, and the BMW X5, the Volvo XC90 currently holds the top spot as the most kid-friendly among luxury cars.

Produced by the Swedish automaker since 2002, the http://www.swedishpartsshop.com/volvoxc90parts.html is no stranger to accolades. In 2003, it was named by Motor Trend Magazine as its Sport/Utility of the Year. It also won the North American Car of the Year award as well. This is because this three-row SUV is one of the best safety performers among luxury SUVs when it comes to front, side, and rear impact crash tests.

Its 2007 update featured a more luxurious interior, restyled front and rear, and a more powerful engine, but the kid-friendly features are what Forbes looked into. Kid-friendly as a term means two things: kid-safe, and kid-fun. Among the safety features mentioned were the rear seatbelt systems that have “pretensioners” to reduce rear belt slack, as well as the interior air quality control system, whereas the kid-fun features included DVD and electronic game entertainment, rear heating and air conditioning, and of course, enough sippie cup holders.

Source: Forbes.com –>

Machines that can read faces? Machines that can tell if you’re falling asleep on the wheel?

With today’s technology, these have become less fantastic, especially since today’s motoring reality needs them now. According to traffic safety research and accident investigations undergone by the Volvo Group, vehicle problems and traffic environment are dwarfed by the human factor as the cause of motoring accidents. The Group claims that it actually accounts for 90 per cent of such mishaps; and research at Virginia Tech Transport Institute verifies this. The latter was even able to delve so far as to determine that the largest and most significant cause of accidents is inattentiveness due to distraction or tiredness.

Since tiredness is a common problem in people’s lives that is usually only solved with sleep, motorists are ill-equipped to deal with it once it hits them while on the road. When this happens, eyelids begin to droop and arm muscles relax, letting the vehicle drift into an accident. In short, people are usually powerless against the Sandman; but one arm of the Volvo Group wants to change all that.

In its bid against the apparent partnership between the Sandman and the Grim Reaper, Volvo Technology Transfer has tied up with an Australian company called Seeing Machines. This company is responsible for devising cutting-edge computerized technology that can recognize facial expressions as well as track head and eye movements.

The technology, derived from the results of research projects at the Australian National University, can be used for medical diagnosing, marketing, games and simulation – but Volvo is investing in Seeing Machines for the technology’s application in vehicle safety.

Currently, Seeing Machines has developed a small camera that can watch how a driver is doing. It measures the position of the head, eye movements and eyelid behavior and processes such data via a specific calculation program in order to interpret if whether the motorist is distracted or tired. The machine will then warn the driver once it finds it necessary to do so. It will keep him alert long enough until finally, he reaches a place where sleeping is safe to do.
–>

Volvo Group aims to employ at least 250 engineers from all over the globe in order to improve the efforts of the company in terms of research and technology development.

With an objective of improving research activities, Volvo started out a recruitment campaign that will assist it in hiring reliable engineers.

“This is just the beginning of a recruitment period that will last several years, which is attributable to our extensive investments - mainly within environmentally related research and technology development,” says Volvo Vehicle Research and Development Senior Vice President Anders Ydergård.

The recruitment group created by Volvo has already started enlisting 75 fresh graduates in France and Sweden. The fields of expertise of these new engineers are industrial design, electronics, and mechanics. Moreover, 175 experienced engineers from India, France, United States and Sweden will be employed.

“Volvo 3P is a global organization working with cutting-edge technology and innovative solutions for the Volvo Group’s truck business. Today, our global product development employs 2,600 engineers and our extensive investments – mainly within environmentally related research and technology development – create the need for this global recruitment campaign,” Ydergård said.

“It is crucial that we ensure our long-term competence with a high proportion of developers with a university degree. Through employing newly graduated engineers, we secure the latest in expertise in our key areas as well as increase the number of potential future leaders,” explained Ydergård. –>