The folks in the marketing department were so keen to talk about Volvo safety, they clean forgot to tell you what model it is sitting there all smashed up. And, on some level, we appreciate the earnestness with which the Swedish carmaker once built and sold cars designed to survive (and avoid) accidents. Indeed, in 1990, the words Volvo and safety were darn near synonymous.
1990 Volvo: Favorite Car Ads
Safety
Volvo once enjoyed a well-earned reputation for designing vehicles that protected occupants at all costs, even at the expense of design or performance. That said, Volvos have always performed just fine. But this ad demonstrates a safety feature the purpose of which may feel counterintuitive. You see, the car is designed to be destroyed in an accident.
Crumple Zone
Demonstrated here is the effectiveness of the “crumple zone,” an area of the vehicle, generally in front of and behind the cabin, which is sacrificed in the name of energy absorption. And, if you look at the car in the ad below, you’ll see that while the car is ruined, and that everything up front and in back has been crushed, the “safety cage” as Volvo calls it, remains entirely intact.
Béla Barényi
The crumple zone (also called a crush or deformation zone) was invented by Austrian-Hungarian engineer Béla Barényi in the late Thirties.
The concept is simple enough. In a collision, a car should deliberately deform in a controlled manner at the front and rear to absorb kinetic energy, while protecting occupants inside a rigid central safety cell. The crumple-zone principal reversed the earlier belief that cars should be as rigid as possible.
Mercedes-Benz
While working at Mercedes-Benz, Barényi refined the concept. The company filed for a patent on January 23, 1951, describing a three-section body: a yielding front end, a strong non-deforming passenger compartment, and a yielding rear end. The patent was granted on August 28, 1952.
An early version of the system appeared on the 1953 Mercedes-Benz “Ponton.” The first full production application was the 1959 Mercedes-Benz W111 “Fintail” cars, which used specially designed longitudinal members that stayed rigid in the center but deformed at the ends.
Passive Safety
Barényi’s design became the foundation of modern passive vehicle safety. Other manufacturers adopted similar principles, and features such as Volvo’s Side-Impact Protection System (SIPS) expanded on the concept. Crumple zone technology is now a core element of virtually every new car and crossover.
As for the car in the picture, it is either a Volvo 740 or 760. A coupe version of the model, the 780, was also offered for 1990. And, for brand traditionalists, the Swedish carmaker still sold the classic 240 in several variations.
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1990 Volvo Pictures
