Volvo Wins Car Security Award

The Swedish brand known for safe cars is now slowly claiming stake to the title of being the producer of the most secure vehicles. Volvo Cars recently took home an award for the Personal Car Communicator. The device was commended at the recently concluded British Insurance Car Security Awards.

The Personal Car Communicator (PCC) is a device developed by Volvo to strengthen the security of their select vehicles which comes equipped with the PCC. The device is a remote control which can be used to open or lock car doors. That capability though is not the reason why Volvo was commended at the awarding event.

The PCC has a unique capability to determine if a car door is locked or unlocked even without the driver approaching the car. From as far away as 100 meters, a driver can learn if his Volvo’s door is locked or not. Another unique capability of the PCC is that it can sense if someone is inside the vehicle. Using a heartbeat sensor, the PCC can warn a driver if an intruder is waiting in his or her car.

Another innovative feature of the PCC is that through it, one can turn on the car’s lights including the lights inside the car. For these innovations, the PCC was given an innovation award at the British Insurance Car Security Awards hosted by Thatcham The Motor Insurance Repair Research Centre. The PCC is used on the Volvo wheel bearing -equipped Volvo S80.

After receiving the award, Volvo managing director Stuart Kerr has this to say: “Personal security is one of the cornerstones of the Volvo safety profile and we are delighted that the Personal Car Communicator has been recognized as an important technology to help further reduce vehicle crime.”

Citroen also received an award at the BICSA. Its overt and covert markings on its vehicles make it easy for a victim of vehicle theft to identify a recovered vehicle. This can be used by law enforcement agencies without the need for third party service providers.

The innovation made to make vehicles of today more secure was commended by the Thatcham chief executive Peter Roberts during his speech at the awarding ceremony. “Manufacturers are continuing to keep ahead of the criminal fraternity – committing resources to the development of highly sophisticated systems to keep cars secure,” says Roberts. “Many car thieves are just having to give up thanks to the industry's continued quest to drive down car crime.”

During the awarding ceremony, the Citroen C3 Exclusive was named given the “Supermini” security award. The Citroen C4 Exclusive was named the most secure small family car. With these awards, Citroen continues its vehicle security effort. In four years, the French car manufacturer has already taken ten BICSA citations. The Citroen C4 Picasso also won the distinction of being the most secure compact MPV. The Citroen C6 was named the most secure executive car.

Topping the family car segment in terms of security is the Peugeot 407 Executive. The Lexus IS was named the most secure compact executive car. The Ford S-Max bagged the security award in the large MPV class. Other winners are the Nissan X-Trail and the Mercedes-Benz S Class. The X-Trail topped the compact 4x4 segment while the S Class took the top honors for the luxury car class.