New Volvo crashes in safety demo

Volvo has been made to look like a dummy after its new S60 sedan crashed during a media safety demonstration last week.

The Swedish car maker that sells heavily on its safety image was trying to show off its Collision Avoidance with Full Auto brake technology at the S60's homeland launch, but an embarrassing failure left the company red-faced in front of a throng of journalists armed with cameras

The S60 was launched out of a tunnel towards a parked truck at 35km/h, with the sedan's onboard range of sensors and cameras meant to detect the large obstacle and automatically brake the car to a standstill. A technical glitch, however, meant the S60 ploughed into the truck.

Volvo fortunately didn't use a driver for the demo in which the S60's front end was crushed, but the company did blame human error.

A Volvo spokeswoman says the company's investigation into the incident revealed either one or more of the car's sensors had been "fried" before the demo, caused by the car maker fast-charging the S60's battery after discovering it was flat.

The collision-avoidance system, called City Safety, debuted in Australia last year on Volvo's XC60 SUV. The S60 goes on sale in Australia later this year.

The new S60 features additional active safety technology that will introduce the world's first pedestrian-detection system with auto brake function. The system is designed to automatically brake the vehicle to a standstill from a speed of up to 35km/h if the system detects the driver is not reacting to an imminent impact with a pedestrian.

See footage of the S60 safety demo crash from YouTube below.