Advanced safety systems might be growing in acceptance, but safety has been a staple of Volvo Trucks since the company’s inception. Don’t forget—Volvo invented the three-point safety belt, and it’s been leading the advanced safety system charge since 2005.
“We are proud that our vision for safety is being adopted so widely in North America. Volvo’s record on safety is unparalleled in both active and passive safety systems,” said Göran Nyberg, president of Volvo Trucks North America. “We made Volvo Enhanced Stability Technology standard on our on-highway tractors in 2005, and we introduced the radar-based Volvo Enhanced Cruise with Active Braking in 2009. Active systems like these get most of the attention, but Volvo firmly believes that it is just as important to protect truck drivers when collisions do happen. That is why we build every cab with high-strength steel and were the first truck manufacturer in the North American market to make a driver’s side airbag standard.”
Safety is just one of the aspects that determine a truck’s value; fuel efficiency and uptime are other pillars of a fleet’s success, and Volvo continues to innovate on both fronts. The manufacturer continues to see customer interest in its fuel efficiency-focused trucks and integrated powertrains. As for the drive for uptime, Nyberg explains:
“One of the great strengths of Volvo’s uptime services is that we give customers the information they need to make decisions when they need it, often scheduling service instead of waiting for an unplanned event,” he explained. “Our Volvo Action Service uptime agents monitor data from the Volvo Remote Diagnostics telematics-based proactive diagnostic and repair planning system through the ASIST web-based service management platform and intervene proactively when a critical fault code is detected. Through ASIST, Remote Diagnostics provides a list of necessary parts and repair instructions to the technician even before the truck arrives for service, reducing diagnostic time by up to 70% and repair time by more than 20%.”
This service is backed by Volvo’s investment in its Uptime Center, which houses a community of experts in different fields who all are squarely focused on keeping trucks on the road. Bringing together Volvo Action Services 24/7 uptime support with experts in Remote Diagnostics, ASIST and dealer support personnel has generated a degree of collaboration and creative problem-solving that couldn’t be achieved with these functions physically separated.
