My question to you is: Were there any structural safety improvements made betwen the 940 and the V90?

Hint: the renault works over the 940 pretty nicely.

See for yourself.

I found the motor in the video. It's visible for a split second at 2 minutes, 21 seconds. You can see it if you pause the video right after the crash shot, and right when he starts talking about the volvo closeup. Problem is, the guy is waiving his hands around and he blocks it from view most of the time, so you have to be fast with the pause button. Internet video is crap on quality, but you can see the mass of the engine, accessory pulleys toward the front, and exhaust pipes coming out the side.

the engine is turned somewhat up and back and leaning against the firewall toward the (british) passenger side of the vehicle.

Pretty interesting. The make believe Volvo passenger suffered some serious injuries. It seemed that the Renault being lighter, was able to dissipate some energy by lifting off the ground. I wonder if it had been an even head on collision instead of offset, if there would have been a different result. But thoughtful engineering saved the Renault over the mere addition of more steel

There is a suggestion out there that the engine had been removed from the volvo. They also quote the volvo as being 1.5 tonnes which seems awfull light to me? Personal observations are that the "driver" in the 940 was seated much closer to the steering wheel than the "driver" of the Renault. I know standards have changed and things are getting better but i did get the impression the "experiment" was designed to give the answers they wanted. Would be interesting to see a number of different accidents tested on complete vehichles.
Incedently i have seen comments from Renault drivers who are unhappy at the way the sunroof shattered over the rear occupents... you cant please anyone these days :-)

I've watched that thing a few times, and I'm having a hard time even imagining anything that looks like the engine in that volvo. There should at least be pieces of it sticking out somewhere to be seen.....if it's in there at all.
I think I'll have to join the no engine in the volvo camp.

I've spent a LOT of time in the volvo wrecking yard and seen what the college kids have done to plenty of 940s and none have folded like that and you can always see the engine.
--
-------Robert, '93 940t, '90 240 wagon, '84 240 diesel (she's sick) , '80 245 diesel, '86 740 GLE turbo diesel, '92 Ford F350 diesel dually

Rather than removing the engine (a lot of work, and more importantly, how would they get the car up to speed?.....) a few strategic cuts with a hacksaw (10 minutes or so to do) would have allowed the car to be driven yet cause it to fold up on impact.

I believe this model Renault is closely related to the Nissan Versa sold in the US, and find the test results a bit hard to believe.

Assuming the test was legit, I would like to have seen them use a 240 instead---I suspect the results might have been quite different.

Hello
looked like they were towing the volvo with a wire.
my first thought was no engine.
i been to many Junkyard and have seen hundreds of wrecked volvos and none ever came out of a wreck like the one in that renault commercial.
i am sure the newer technology is probably helping people stay alive which is good.
thats all folks
--
95 944T, 94 945T, 85 244T.

I, too, have seen plenty of smashed Volvos (of all models) in junkyards over the years, and I agree that it is rare to find one with major passenger compartment intrusion, like in the video.

I also remember seeing something a long time ago about how the engine/transmission mounts were designed in such a way that the engine/trans would move downward and back in a collision, to prevent it from coming back through the firewall. If this happened as designed in the video, it might be possible to see it touching the ground under the car, if the camera angle is right. It might be worth it for someone with broadband to check on that---I have dialup, and the video takes me most of an hour to download, so I don't feel like watching it again.

that's a good point. I'll have to watch the video again. the 940 had the 4banger engine, right? If so, was that engine supposed to drop out? It might be stuffed somewhere in that mass of metal that was the front end. But now you've got me curious.

Either way, does anyone know if there had been any structural changes between the 940 and the V90? I know they startd touting their SIPS system in 1992, but I don't know if that was a real change or just marketing what they already had.

i got a 1995 940 it has 2 air bags. no air bag went off in the volvo in the film hummmmmmmmmm?

I think this was a 91 or a 92, and while all US models had a drivers air bag by then, British and European models may not have.

yes, and they said that the car they were using was a "15-year old volvo." So depending on when this video was made, the newest it could possibly be is a 1992.