Renowned worldwide for its extensive approach to safety, Volvo has thought about an April Fool’s joke that would be easier to believe and came up with the world premiere of the External Vehicle Protection (EnVeloP) system.
A year after it launched the Pedestrian Airbag Technology on the all-new Volvo V40, the Swedish carmaker said it unveiled EnVeloP, which consists of a small container built in the roof of the car, which contains a folded-in, vacuum pulled balloon of similar material to existing airbags.
How does it supposedly work? In case of an unavoidable collision (whether it’s with another car, an object or even when coming into contact with surface water), the balloon unfolds within the blink of an eye around the car. By completely enveloping the car, the External Vehicle Protection system ensures that damage and personal injury from the collision is minimized.
“For years, we have been looking at how to increase safety in our vehicles, and the airbag has played a central role in that journey,” said Thomas Broberg, Senior Technical Adviser Safety at the Volvo Cars Safety Centre.
“Instead of finding new areas inside the car where we could add more airbag-like safety systems, we asked ourselves: why not cover the complete car in an airbag-like solution?”
Volvo said that at the moment the External Vehicle Protection system is still in a testing phase, but plans to fit it in future models. Leaving aside the April Fool’s factor, do you think a similar safety system could be implemented in the future?
By Dan Mihalascu
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