Volvo will impose a 112 mph speed limiter on all its cars from 2020.
Volvo wants to highlight the dangers of excessive speeding with a new limit on all its cars. As part of its “Vision 2020”, the company will impose a 112 mph limit on all its new cars starting in 2020. CEO Håkan Samuelsson stated the decision from the position of safety. “Volvo is a leader in safety: we always have been and always will be.” To that end, all new Volvos will have this speed limit as part of the company’s aim to avoid any deaths or serious injuries in a Volvo by 2020.
One of Volvo’s safety experts, Jan Iversson, also weighed in. “People do not recognize the danger involved in speed.” He goes on to say that people often drive too fast for the given traffic conditions. “We need to support better behavior and help people realize and understand that speeding is dangerous.”
Apart from speeding, Volvo identified driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and distraction as other major causes of accidents. These issues all represent ‘gaps toward zero’ for the brand. In their push for safety, Volvo wants to cut down on these sorts of accidents using technology at their disposal. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a quarter of all traffic fatalities in 2017 were down to speeding.
‘Smart speed control’ may be coming in the future
Ultimately, this means that even Volvo’s higher performance models will have speed muzzles starting next year. Even the T8 models with 400 horsepower or more won’t shuffle past that electronic barrier. This decision likely won’t affect people in real-world driving conditions — as long as they’re driving legally, anyway — but just knowing its there is bound to be an unpopular feature for some.
Volvo says it’s also investigating “geofencing” technology to limit speeds around school zones and hospitals in the future.
Editorial comments: Under no circumstances do we at TFL condone speeding, particularly on the public roads, when circumstances often don’t allow for it. Volvo is sending an unequivocal message that you won’t be speeding in their cars from 2020 onward. Even then, 112 mph is still fast enough for most people.
On the same token, saying ‘people simply do not recognize’ the danger of speeding is likely to put some people off. That may ostensibly be true for some folks out there, but we humans are a stubborn bunch. We don’t enjoy people telling us that we can’t be trusted not to speed. On that basis, this may not be a popular decision on Volvo’s part, at least in the short-term.
What do you think of speed limiters? Let us know in the comments below!
