2007 Volvo S80 3.2 Sedan 4-door 3.2l Silver Exterior/tan Leather Interior on 2040-cars

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NHTSA, IIHS, and 20 automakers to make auto braking standard by 2022

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and virtually every automaker in the US domestic market have announced a pact to make automatic emergency braking standard by 2022. Here's the full rundown of companies involved: BMW, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover, Kia, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Volvo (not to mention the brands that fall under each automaker's respective umbrella). Like we reported yesterday, AEB will be as ubiquitous in the future as traction and stability control are today. But the thing to note here is that this is not a governmental mandate. It's truly an agreement between automakers and the government, a fact that NHTSA claims will lead to widespread adoption three years sooner than a formal rule. That fact in itself should prevent up to 28,000 crashes and 12,000 injuries. The agreement will come into effect in two waves. For the majority of vehicles on the road – those with gross vehicle weights below 8,500 pounds – AEB will need to be standard equipment by September 1, 2022. Vehicles between 8,501 and 10,000 pounds will have an extra three years to offer AEB. "It's an exciting time for vehicle safety. By proactively making emergency braking systems standard equipment on their vehicles, these 20 automakers will help prevent thousands of crashes and save lives," said Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx said in an official statement. "It's a win for safety and a win for consumers." Read on for the official press release from NHTSA. Related Video: U.S. DOT and IIHS announce historic commitment of 20 automakers to make automatic emergency braking standard on new vehicles McLEAN, Va. – The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety announced today a historic commitment by 20 automakers representing more than 99 percent of the U.S. auto market to make automatic emergency braking a standard feature on virtually all new cars no later than NHTSA's 2022 reporting year, which begins Sept 1, 2022. Automakers making the commitment are Audi, BMW, FCA US LLC, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover, Kia, Maserati, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi Motors, Nissan, Porsche, Subaru, Tesla Motors Inc., Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo Car USA.

Volvo, Polestar reportedly planning twin city-friendly electric SUVs

Volvo is nearly ready to unveil the next generation of the XC90, its flagship model, but it's not forgetting about the other end of its range. It's reportedly planning to launch an entry-level model that will take the form of a pocket-sized crossover powered by an electric drivetrain. Without citing sources, British magazine Autocar reported that the model will ride on a modular platform developed by Volvo parent company Geely and called SEA internally. This architecture already underpins the 001 sold by Zeekr, which is another brand in the Geely empire. No technical specifications are available at this point, but the report sketches the outline of a high-riding model with a sleek-looking silhouette. This isn't the first time we've heard about Volvo's city-friendly SUV; earlier rumors claimed it would be called XC20 or C20, names that would have clearly signaled the model's positioning as being below the 40-badged cars. Volvo is moving away from this naming system, however, and the cars it will launch in the coming years will receive actual names. With that said, both the XC20 and the C20 names are off the table. Polestar's take on the concept of an electric entry-level crossover will be positioned between the 2 and the 3, though it will somewhat confusingly be called 4. It sounds like the model will be bigger and more expensive than Volvo's, and Autocar learned that it could be closely related to the C40 Recharge (pictured) underneath the sheetmetal. If that's accurate, it will share its CMA architecture with the 2, among other models, and it will be offered with either a single electric motor that zaps the front wheels or dual-motor all-wheel-drive. Both EVs will have at least one thing in common: a mission to boost sales. For Volvo, launching a battery-powered car pegged near the bottom of its range will increase the percentage of EVs in its global sales mix. It's planning to cross the 50% mark by 2025. For Polestar, entering cheaper segments will allow it to boost its annual sales by reaching less affluent buyers, though it will remain a premium brand. Polestar 4 is tentatively due out in 2023. There's no word on when Volvo will release its smallest EV to date.

Junkyard Gem: 1969 Volvo 145 Wagon

Volvo managed to sell the 1940s-design PV544 and its 1950s-design Amazon descendant all the way into the mid-to-late 1960s in the United States, but those iconic machines were replaced here by one that began a line of even more iconic Volvos: the 140 Series. Starting with the 1968 model year, the 140 became available in the United States as a two-door sedan (the 142), a four-door sedan (the 144 and 164), and a station wagon (the 145). These rear-wheel-drive, brick-shaped cars later evolved into the 200 Series and its heirs, with the very last of the breed appearing here in the form of the 1998 S90/V90. That's a lot of history all wrapped up in one vehicle, and so I was pleased to find this 145 in a Denver-area car graveyard earlier this month. This car rolled out of Goteborg with a gleaming coat of Morkgron (dark green) paint and, according to this build tag, was built to California specifications. At some point, it made its way to Colorado. Very few US-market cars had six-digit odometers prior to the middle 1980s, but Volvo felt optimistic about their cars' longevity (at a time when reaching the magical 100,000-mile mark was something that rarely happened with non-Mercedes-Benz vehicles) and so now we can see that this car made it well past 200k miles. The 2.0-liter pushrod four-cylinder engine in this car can trace its ancestry back to the Amazons, P1800s, and PV544s of the early 1960s, and it was rated at 115 horsepower. A six-cylinder version of the 140 sedan, known as the 164, could be purchased here as well (though it had few American takers). But wait— what's that Detroit-looking two-barrel carburetor doing on an engine that's supposed to have a Stromberg 175? Yes, it's a GM-spec Rochester clone built at the ancient Bay City Plant (now known as GM Powertrain) in Michigan. Earlier Volvos came with a pair of British-made Skinner Union sidedrafts, which could be pretty painful to keep working right, but perhaps even the less-oddball Stromberg proved too much hassle for whoever installed this carb (which was meant to go on engines with much more displacement than a Volvo B20). Transmission choices in the 1969 140: a four-on-the-floor manual or a three-speed automatic. This car has the manual. The interior is pretty thrashed, as is usually the case with the 140s I find during my junkyard explorations.