Volvo Car Group announces safety features included in its Polestar brand’s battery-electric Polestar 2.
The Polestar 2 is Volvo’s first all-electric vehicle to be crash-tested (pictured below), the first to offer Acoustic Vehicle Alert System technology and the first within the group to be fitted with front-inner-side airbags, Polestar says in a news release.
Additionally, the BEV’s battery pack is enclosed in an aluminum case housed within the floor structure for both protection and rigidity. This reduces the risk of damage and stiffens the body structure, while protecting occupants by keeping the battery intact in a collision, Polestar says.
The battery pack is further protected by a solid aluminum block housed on the bottom edge of the front firewall on either side of the car. It is designed to minimize intrusion of the wheel and other objects into the cabin and toward the battery pack during partially offset frontal collisions.
Polestar 2 also protects occupants and the battery pack from more direct front impacts with a new lower load path that increases protection in the absence of an internal combustion engine.
Polestar 2’s Acoustic Vehicle Alert System features specially developed external sounds for warning pedestrians.
“We deliberately did not want Polestar 2 to sound like a robot or symphonic spaceship,” Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath says. “We wanted very natural, subtle sounds that simply let pedestrians know the car is moving. At the same time, we wanted Polestar 2 to sound slightly unique and become identifiable as a Polestar, while remaining relatively simple.”
The BEV’s inner-side airbags fitted to the front seats, standard in all markets, add an extra layer of protection for the inner limbs of the front occupants who gain individual protection from both sides, as well as from the front.
Polestar 2 debuts a new generation of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, which will make their way into other Volvo Car Group products as well. Pilot Assist provides acceleration, braking and steering assistance up to 81 mph (130 km/h). Pilot Assist features location-based enhancements, which adjust the amount of assistance in acceleration based on the car’s actual position.
Detection systems for other vehicles in front, behind and in the blindspots of the car, as well as pedestrians and cyclists ahead of the car, all are coupled to steering assistance and autonomous emergency braking to help ensure the safest possible interactions between other road users and Polestar 2, according to Polestar.
“Safety is of paramount importance for Polestar,” Ingenlath says. “We are directly linked to Volvo Cars, and with that comes their famous reputation for outstanding safety technology.”
