[avtur3]

Volvo has announced today that from 2020 all their cars will be limited to a top speed of 180kph (112mph).

The company has a vision that from 2020 no one traveling in an (edit - NEW) Volvo will be killed or seriously injured and this limitation on top speed is seen as one of many factors which will allow them to meet this ambition.

Other areas of concern to Volvo are driver distraction and intoxication, ideas to deal with these will be announced at a safety event on 20th March.

Interesting that this move comes from within the industry and not legislators driven by safety campaigners. Is it a smart move by Volvo to stay ahead of the game?

https://www.media.volvocars.com/global/ ... f-speeding

[Robin500]

As long as they'll get to 112 rapidly that's fine.

[Colonel Panic]

I doubt that the typical Volvo purchaser would be too disappointed if their new car can't do more than 112mph. So a publicity gain for Volvo with little downside.

[Paul_Sengupta]

The German manufacturers have been doing this for a long time. Their cars have generally been limited to a speed "which might not be considered excessive." - 155mph (250km/h).

To not kill the sales of the 750, my BMW 740 is limited to 149mph (240km/h)...

[stevelup]

The limiter setting on BMWs can be influenced by other things as well such as tyre / wheel / brake choices. So you might have two cars off the same production line with the same engine, but a different top speed.

The other interesting thing is that this limiter setting locks hard once the ECU has done a certain number of miles and the change is irreversible once it has locked down. So there's effectively no way of lifting the limit if the car has anything more than delivery miles on it other than completely replacing the ECU.

[Sooty25]

bring back Dizzy's and Webers, no limiting them!

[johnm]

bring back Dizzy's and Webers, no limiting them!

In most configurations they’d struggle to reach 112 while drinking gallons of fuel

[avtur3]

bring back Dizzy's and Webers, no limiting them!

In most configurations they’d struggle to reach 112 while drinking gallons of fuel

In the days of playing with carberooters (be they Webers, SU's are whatever) it never ceased to amaze me how much fuel you could use in a short amount of time given that it all had to travel through such apparently small jets ...

[Sooty25]

bring back Dizzy's and Webers, no limiting them!

In most configurations they’d struggle to reach 112 while drinking gallons of fuel

In the days of playing with carberooters (be they Webers, SU's are whatever) it never ceased to amaze me how much fuel you could in a short amount of time given that it all had to travel through such apparently small jets ...

Oddly enough, half of us fly aeroplanes just like that!

[Rob L]

I don't blame them. Volvo have previous on vehicle safety, namely:

Seatbelts (patented by them but freely offered to other vehicle manufacturers, and now adopted world-wide)

Running lights (now adopted world-wide including [belatedly] the EU).

[Colonel Panic]

Running lights (now adopted world-wide including [belatedly] the EU).

... and what a PITA they were when first used by Volvo. The world and his dog flashed Volvo drivers for forgetting to turn their side lights off

On a side note, I was interested to learn recently that the "third" brake light was a US invention - I had previously laid that one at Volvo's doors too.

[stevelup]

And boy was it needed on US cars with their ridiculous combination tail lights / brake lights / indicators!

They couldn't be less clear if they tried.

[Rob P]

My current Jaguar is limited at 155, but by all accounts this can be deprogrammed. I've never really seen the point. It drinks fuel fast enough at legal speeds.

As above, I can't see the antique dealer community being particularly fazed by Volvo's latest "improvement"

Rob P

[Miscellaneous]

I can't see the antique dealer community being particularly fazed by Volvo's latest "improvement"

Apparently I've gone from being an Audi driving drugs dealer to a Volvo driving antiques dealer.

[Bill McCarthy]

Aye, there’s nothing on the market today that has the carrying capacity of the Volvo 940 shooting brake.