I understand that the 2001 year V70s started to have "curtain" or headliner airbags that protect the face in side impacts. I'm looking to buy my first V70 and see that the 2000 and early model years are like $5000 less than 2001+ model years. Do the curtain airbags make a difference, or is the side airbag adequate?

I'm also intigued that Volvo never let NHTSA crash test the V-70 (I checked NHTSA.DOT.GOV's website last night and not a single model year V-70 was crash tested.

I'd guess the price difference is mostly due to the styling change. Given the choice, and all other things being equal, I'd buy a car with the side curtain airbags. But only 1 of our 5 cars has them, and in fact only 3 of the 5 even have airbags. I don't lose any sleep over this.

BTW, the later P-2 platform V70 is also significantly heavier than the earlier cars, so the earlier 850-70s are quicker.

NHTSA has crash tested the 1997 850 and the 2000 S70 (same platform) and gave it five stars for frontal impact and four stars for side.

So has IIHS http://www.carsafety.org/vehicle_ratings/ce/html/95005.htm

Both NHTSA and IIHS have also tested the S80. They gave it five stars for both front and side.

-Samurai Jack

Side curtains should be better than side front bags only but they'll only be any good at all if the car is hit directly from the side. It depends how important that is to you.
All of my cars are older, pre-air bag and I don't worry about that as I havent in my last 32 yrs of driving.

the price u see is not the result of curtain airbags. 2000 is the last year of the 850-based chassis...developed for production by 1990 (1993 for u.s., altho receiving various updates along the way)... 2001 v70 is based on the new p2 platform, which is structurally 100% tortionally stiffer than the old one... and is completely new...introduced in 1999 with the s80... so 17" on the 2001 v70 is much more compliant in ride than 17" on a pre-2000 v70, among a host of things...


curtain airbags would provide protection for not only the front passengers, but the rear passengers as well...unlike the side airbags, which is a smaller version and designed to protect the head...