Volvo literally slows your roll in the name of safety
Don't even bother to speed in future Volvo cars.
The Chinese-owned Swedish car company is capping top speeds at 112 mph starting next year, which will affect cars released in 2021.
The imposed cap is part of the company's initiative to reduce (and ideally eliminate) road deaths and incidents. Volvo named speeding as the main factor in fatal crashes.
Volvo prides itself on safety and knows the speed limit won't be a silver bullet. But it predicts it will force drivers away from one of the most dangerous behaviors on the road.
Yes, you can drive pretty fast in a Volvo. Most reach top speeds of 140 mph. The S60 Polestar is probably the most sporty Volvo. It can hit nearly 185 mph – but there are only a few of them in the United States.
Volvo is looking into other "smart" fixes for speeding, such as geofencing cars around certain areas like schools and hospitals to keep the car from breaking speed limits. At a safety event in Sweden later this month, the company is addressing other road issues like intoxicated and distracting driving.
Even with the reduced speed, at 112 mph in most places you're still asking for a speeding ticket.
Topics Cars
Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.
