Modern Volvo Cars offer great driving pleasure and safety with the Driver Support option. However, functions contained vary significantly between series and Model Years. Submit your questions for me to answer with free clarifying tables.
The Driver Support option was introduced by Volvo in Model Year 2009 of the XC60 SUV. Since then, the DS package has been extended with new functions and improved performance varying between manufacturing weeks and model series.
For instance, DS contains the dual rear radar based Cross Traffic Alert (CTA) in the 60-series (S, V, XC, CC) from MY2014. However, CTA is not available at all in the 70-series, where the BLIS function is camera based. So was the 60-series up to MY2013. BLIS is an acronym for Blind Spot Information System.
The MY2009 electronics and front radar for the Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) allowed for maximum 2 seconds to a leading vehicle. It has been extended to 3 seconds in my car:
In June 2014 I* decided to order a brand new Volvo XC60 D4 AWD Summum Business Edition Pro with Driver Support, Rear View Camera and TPMS (Tyre Pressure Monitoring System, mandatory in the EU for passenger cars manufactured from Nov.1, 2014).
My car was manufactured in late August 2014. It is of MY2015, since Volvo Cars begin manufacturing Model Year YYYY in week no.19 of year YYYY-1. Major Volvo updates are also launched in week no.46 though these cars are considered the same Model Year as those manufactured from week no.19.
All these details may be unimportant to most Volvo buyers. For me and my testing, though I wanted to know exactly the properties and performance of the driving safety relevant functions. While first checking out the used car market, I discovered that the Active High Beam changed character completely to “generation 2” (AHB2) between MY2013 and MY2014 – i.e. in the 60-series. AHB2 is not available in the 70-series.
To help you avoid similar uncertainty when choosing a Volvo, I consider making checklists and tables of the active safety equipment in various Model Years of Volvo’s 60- and 70-series.
If you submit your email address and questions in a comment below, I will send it or let you know when the guide is available for download. Unless you unsubscribe, you will also receive my forthcoming Newsletter in due course.
Kind Regards and Merry Christmas
*Lennart Strandberg
Professor Emeritus, Linkoping University, Sweden
Detta är lucka 23 i Bildrullens Hjulkalender 2015.
Tidigare upplagor: 2014 och 2013
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Kind Regards
Lennart Strandberg