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Volvo To Impose 112mph Speed Limit On All New Cars From 2020 (theguardian.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the safety-first dept.

Volvo will limit the top speed to 112mph on all its new cars from 2020 in an attempt to reduce the number of accidents. "The cap will prevent drivers from accelerating to the top speeds of up to 155mph many Volvos can reach," reports The Guardian. From the report: Volvo is believed to be the first carmaker to install the cap across its entire range. Police vehicles will be exempt. Similar technology has been installed on several high-performance cars in Germany, but at a much higher speed limit. The general speed limit for motorways in EU member states is 75-80mph (120-130km/h). Germany does not have a general cap for motorways but recommends a speed of up to 80mph. Speeding remained one of the main contributors to road deaths, Volvo said, along with drug and drink intoxication and mobile phone use. Volvo is also exploring how geofencing -- a virtual geographic boundary defined by GPS technology -- can be used to automatically limit speeds around schools and hospitals. Hakan Samuelsson, Volvo's president and chief executive, said: "While a speed limitation is not a cure-all, it's worth doing if we can even save one life. We want to start a conversation about whether carmakers have the right or maybe even an obligation to install technology in cars that changes their driver's behavior."

15 of 534 comments (clear)

  1. 112 speedo limit is fine.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Volvo is also exploring how geofencing -- a virtual geographic boundary defined by GPS technology -- can be used to automatically limit speeds around schools and hospitals." - This part, this is a very very very bad idea.

    1. Re:112 speedo limit is fine.... by rmdingler · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "Damn car manufacturers telling me what to Do... For who exactly, is 112 mph not fast enough?

      In fact, unless you're the Madison Avenue stalwart professional driver on a closed course, why should you be able to drive that recklessly on the public highways and put the rest of us at risk of getting caught up in a vehicular altercation with you?

      Mah rights!

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    2. Re:112 speedo limit is fine.... by nevermindme · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Volvo GPS units already have speed zone change notifications on the dashboard. I rented the 2017 SUV turboD in Germany and it did perform well to 200kmph. The smaller Volvos I have driven here are not worth the US volvo premium. Volvo might just be in cost cutting mode and limiting to a class of tire that is cheaper than a 140mph rated one.

    3. Re:112 speedo limit is fine.... by rmdingler · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The threat to your poor sickly mother has to at least be weighed against the threat to other drivers, including someone else's perfectly healthy mother headed down the autobahn to market.

      That, and if your auto hits a fat rabbit at 112 mph, you and mother are going to arrive at the hospital in another vehicle... one with lights and a siren.

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    4. Re:112 speedo limit is fine.... by rogoshen1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What if at some point in time, the powers that be deem 80 MPH as being too fast?

      What if your insurance company gets wind of this, and offers a better rate if you opt in to some kind of governor? (and eventually makes it cost prohibitive to not opt in?)

      Part of living in a free god damn society is having the freedom to do questionable, potentially stupid things. The individual learns from their mistakes, and is better for it. The problem with "but your rights end at wherever" argument is that it's an ever shifting, subjective line. And probably tends to get more and more narrow over time.

      I'd rather live with some amount of risk than limiting everyone to the equivalent of safety scissors and butter knives.

    5. Re:112 speedo limit is fine.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Honestly, it's hard to argue against it when it's 32 mph faster than the highest posted limit in the countries the car is sold in.

      You can argue that you should be free to do what you want, but the fact is you already very much breaking the law at the limit. It's honestly a bit surprising they didn't govern it to 90 mphs (highest posted limit/suggestion + roughly 10%). Ironically, it's probably actually law enforcement that would be most against that...they tend to profit on speeding fines and honestly if we tech ourselves out of speeding they end up out of work. So it's no surprise it's limited high enough to max out tickets, but low enough they can easily catch you.

    6. Re:112 speedo limit is fine.... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Part of living in a free god damn society is having the freedom to do questionable, potentially stupid things.

      Only if they only affect you. If you do 112 MPH on a public road you are quite likely to injure or kill others, not to mention damage their property.

      More over, the public road isn't your personal playground, it's a shared resource we all contributed to and we collectively decided on rules for its use. Supporting very high speeds costs money - additional safety equipment on the road, higher maintenance standards, extra emergency services. Are you volunteering to pay for that or do you think everyone should fund your racing driver lifestyle?

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  2. Virtue signalling by TheMeuge · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Maybe they should also chide the drivers for being too wasteful of gas if they happen to accelerate too fast... or issue fines for using the wrong pronouns.

  3. Why would I buy this? by zippo01 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why would I buy something that comes with arbitrary limits? Maybe if I was a rental car company, business or government, but as an individual this would be a massive turn off. If I want to kill myself at 113 MPH, volvo shouldn't stop me.

    1. Re:Why would I buy this? by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If I want to kill myself at 113 MPH, volvo shouldn't stop me.

      This is on par with anti-vaxxer logic because it's not your road. Other people drive on it and if you run into them and die at top speed then you are likely to kill them too.

      When you can afford to have your own roads build then I'm sure Volvo will be willing to sell you a custom car for you to die in at the highest possible speed.

      --
      Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    2. Re:Why would I buy this? by ljw1004 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why would I buy something that comes with arbitrary limits? Maybe if I was a rental car company, business or government, but as an individual this would be a massive turn off. If I want to kill myself at 113 MPH, volvo shouldn't stop me.

      Why should Volvo want you as a customer? If you buy your next car from a different manufacturer, then Volvo's safety stats will look even better than their competition, and they'll generate more sales from people who care about safety. (which is already their primary audience, I believe).

      Imagine I'm buying a car and I have a family. "Hmmm... Volvo cars have injury rate of X per 100k miles, and Ford cars have a higher injury rate of Y per 100k miles, so I know which one I'll buy." That will be a higher priority for me than the ability to go above 112mph.

  4. Saving lives? by bmomjian · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Maybe they can save lives by not selling cars at all. Have they tried that? Using their logic, seems it would be worth it.

  5. Just one life by Blame+The+Network · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The president was quoted " it's worth doing if we can even save one life." That's stupid.

    Well, once the limit is 112 mph, they'll realize that 100 mph is safer still, so on the basis one the "just one life" argument they'll drop the speed again.

    This logic cycle will repeat until the capped speed is one at which no life can possibly lost, including the life of drivers with severe health issues and frail pedestrians. They'll end up at a capped speed of under 10 mph. Better yet, let's not drive at all.

    .

    1. Re:Just one life by dasunt · · Score: 3, Insightful

      When Mount Saint Helens erupted in 1980 [wikipedia.org], one of the survivors had been camping near the mountain, saw the eruption, and got into his car. He reported he was flooring it at 100 mph down the road ahead of the pyroclastic flow, and passed another car doing 75 mph. He survived. The couple in the 75 mph car died.

      This reminds me of the excuse people used to have about not wearing seatbelts because they didn't want to get trapped in a burning car.

      Technically, it could happen. It probably has happened in the past. But practically speaking, not wearing a seatbelt is far more dangerous than wearing a seatbelt.

  6. Have you ever driven a car at 155mph? by Nocturrne · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Seriously, how many people have even driven a car over 112mph, and if so, why? Unless you live in a very remote place with very low population, the chance of traffic being light enough to even exceed the normal speed limit is pretty low.