How safe is an old Volvo?

A friend asked me recently about buying an old Volvo for his son who is itching for wheels and heading to college in a year. His only requirement is that it has to carry bags of dirty clothes. “Is an old Volvo safe,” he asked. Wow, tough question. For their day, they were probably the safest out there.

Going back to our 240s (1975 to 1993), they were rather technologically advanced. In a collision, the engine and transmission (as a unit) went down under the car, away from the passenger compartment. It had a strong door beam for side impact protection and nice crumple zones – open the hood on one and look at the indents on the hood. These help the hood fold up and, along with hood hinges, help to keep the hood out of the passenger compartment. They had great front and rear energy absorbing structures and reinforced roofs in the sedans and wagons. They also had anti-submarining seats to help keep seat-belted occupants in place.

The 240s were also the first time we mounted the fuel tank very close to the rear axle. Special impact members were added to the body frame to create a safety zone around the tank. In a rear impact, these members were designed to force the rear axle forward to help prevent the tank from rupturing. In 1990, the 240s were fitted with a driver’s side front airbag. In fact, in 1976, the U.S. Department of Transportation (pre IIHS) thought so highly of our 240, they bought 25 of them to set future automobile safety standards.

So, a 240 would be a good choice. It’s not a bad car and there are probably still bargains out there. I heard wagons are commanding good prices. There are some nice ones on eBay. They are not hard to work on either, though replacing the timing belt is important. They have rather basic interiors; A/C was very weak, great heaters, nice comfortable seats. The driver’s side airbag came on later models.

Another option is the 700 series; a more modern interpretation of the 240, meaning they held high the two-box design language. Lots of storage space; a heavy, solid car. It had more and better safety features than the 240 and we started using three point belts in the center rear position. In 1985, we added a driver’s side airbag. In 1993 with the 960 and 1994 with the 940, we added a passenger side airbag. None of this series had side impact airbags, but the ‘B’ pillar was getting larger for better side impact protection. We started using ABS with the 240s and all 700s had it. Some may argue ABS has no advantage over regular brakes. In fact some companies have removed this from cars or made it optional. Nothing like feeling ABS kick in to help keep you out of trouble when you panic stop.

The 850 series was our breakthrough platform. The engine and transmission were mounted transversely (East/West) giving front and offset impacting forces something to hit before hitting the firewall. (Personally, I like having a big mass of aluminum up front to suck up energy.) If the engine and transmission gets pushed back towards the passenger compartment and hits the firewall, there is more surface area to distribute impacting forces than if the engine and transmission were mounted conventionally (North/South). Also, the steering column would almost completely collapse into itself.

We used a huge ‘B’ pillar that was part of our Side Impact Protection System (SIPS) structure. In 1992, with SIPS, we could reduce side impact forces by about 20 percent, meeting 1997 U.S. government side impact standards (all this without an airbag). In 1995, the 850s came with SIPS Bag, a world’s first side impact airbag. It used two small gunpowder cartridges to inflate the bag (honestly, they looked like 20 gauge shotgun shells). It was the only way to help beat the impacting car to the human body, not much space to work with as opposed to a nice long front end. SIPS Bag further reduced side impact forces by about 20 percent, meaning that, combined, we reduced side impact force by about 40 percent. See page nine of this report. I think the best feature was how this car felt to drive. It was a solid, tank-like structure.

(Continued next week)

Tags: safety, SIPS, Volvo 240, Volvo 700, Volvo 850