Volvo Cars has marked the 60th anniversary of its introduction of the three-point safety belt by launching Project EVA, which will look at the unique risks that car crashes pose for women.
Based on the company’s own research data, as well as other studies, Project EVA illustrates that women are more at risk than men of sustaining certain injuries in a car crash. Differences in, for example, anatomy and neck strength between the average man and woman, mean that women are more likely to suffer from whiplash injuries.
“We have data on tens of thousands of real-life accidents, to help ensure our cars are as safe as they can be for what happens in real traffic,” said Lotta Jakobsson, professor and senior technical specialist at the Volvo Cars Safety Centre.
“This means our cars are developed with the aim to protect all people, regardless of gender, height, shape or weight, beyond the ‘average person’ represented by crash test dummies.”
The three-point safety belt is credited with saving an estimated one million lives globally, and in a further nod to its 60th anniversary, Volvo Cars is making its safety knowledge easily accessible, in a central digital library which it is urging the car industry to use.
