In the 1972, fifty years ago, car safety was by no means as much considered as it is now. Leaving aside the lack of driving aids, which is quite recent, having a seat belt was already a nice luxury. The quality of the materials was less good than today, and there was a complete lack of systems such as airbags, which continue to save lives with brilliant constancy. It wasn’t a completely dark era though, as some brands were already exploring the territory of security. Volvo is a clear example of this. Just in 1972 she presented hers Experimental Safety Carwith cutting-edge solutions.
There VESC (Volvo Experimental Safety Car) was presented at Geneva Motor Show of 1972 with anticipations also from an aesthetic point of view, as it heralded the stylistic language that would characterize the Volvo 240, launched in 1974 and then became the best-selling model in Volvo history, with 2.9 million units produced over the aged 19. From the point of view of safety, many innovations were presented. The list is quite long, but it’s fair to show them all.
The Csemi-passive safety locks of the front seats could be automatically rolled up to the body of the passengers at the moment of starting. The airbag they had been installed for the front seats; further airbags held back the “head shots” of the rear passengers, as they were inserted in the parcel shelf. The retractable front head restraints raised automatically in the event of a collision. The collapsible steering wheelin the event of a frontal collision, it was moved away from the driver’s body by 150 millimeters. Headlight and rear window wipers rear allowed a better performance in terms of lighting and visibility. THE anti-lock brakes and self-leveling suspension, as well as automatic shutdown of the fuel supply andreverse horn completed the work.
There were also structural innovations such as the body with high torsional rigidity. The front and rear sections were designed for optimum shock energy absorption. The passenger compartment, on the other hand, was rigid and protected by a sturdy network of bars inserted into the roof, including an anti-rollover cell. The sides of the bodywork were reinforced with tubular bars for extra protection in side collisions. The rear engine mounts were designed in such a way as to force it to slide under the car in the event of a frontal impact. THE massive bumpers gave this model an unmistakable profile and protected the body from impacts up to 16 km / h.
The car was fitted with a four-cylinder fuel injection, the B20, which was designed to meet the new anti-pollution regulations issued in 1974 in the USA. Thanks to what is now called EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) and the catalytic converter, the VESC can be considered the progenitor of all subsequent Volvo models with catalytic converter and Lambda probe, an innovation introduced by Volvo in 1976. Many of the solutions incorporated in this concept car were then introduced in the Volvo 240 – and gradually in subsequent Volvo models as well.
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