Volvo's Safety Engineering Philosophy is described in detail starting with Volvo traffic accident investigations as one of the most important inputs to the safety characteristics specified for a new Volvo car. How the safety characteristics are transformed to measurable properties in laboratory environment is then explained and exemplified. The car specifircation is further broken down to system and subsystem specifications suitable and understandable to the engineer at the drawing board. The engineering follow-up procedure, including Crashworthiness Design Review Meetings and at the end certification tests and production control tests, is discussed.
How variations in test results affect the engineering procedure and methods to set engineering limits to be used during the different design phases are discussed.
How this Safety Engineering Philosophy is implemented into the development of a new Volvo car is then described step by step and exemplified by different technical solutions and test results.