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Old 03-06-2019, 09:13 AM   #11
John V
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Originally Posted by JST View Post
Again, the point here isn't specifically that Volvo limited its cars to a particular number--it's that Volvo is trying to make a point about the danger of speed and spark a conversation that will lead to regulatory imposition of speed caps.
Sparking that conversation may indeed be Volvo's goal (certainly seems that way). Whether that conversation will actually happen, and whether that conversation will lead to regulatory imposition of speed caps or not is a much longer bridge.

But, yeah. Meh.
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Old 03-06-2019, 10:12 AM   #12
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make a point about the danger of speed and spark a conversation that will lead to regulatory imposition of speed caps.
Don't we already regulate speeds with road signs that tell how fast we're allowed to travel?
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Old 03-06-2019, 10:19 AM   #13
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IIRC, the EU is getting ready to mandate automatic speed limit compliance in new cars.
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Old 03-06-2019, 11:04 AM   #14
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What bothers me about the idea of starting a safety argument at 112mph is that 112mph will probably have an imperceptible impact on traffic fatalities. It's also not very fast and perfectly reasonable on tens of thousands of miles of Interstate and US highways outside of built up metro areas. It's even often a sane and reasonable speed on the NJTP northbound from Exits 1-5 (but almost never southbound).

Anyway...

My initial guess is that capping speeds at 112mph will not hurt Volvo's sales or their reputation among their buyers, but will cut their costs by, um, a lot.

If your cars can't go over 112mph, you don't need to design all the parts and systems to perform over 112mph. You don't need to test them over 112mph. Parts costs go down, initially making new car sales more profitable and, later, saving customers money post-warranty with lower parts replacement costs.

If they really wanted to spark a safety conversation to have a safety conversation and safety based outcome, they'd cap speeds at 80mph or less.
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Old 03-06-2019, 11:12 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by clyde View Post
What bothers me about the idea of starting a safety argument at 112mph is that 112mph will probably have an imperceptible impact on traffic fatalities. It's also not very fast and perfectly reasonable on tens of thousands of miles of Interstate and US highways outside of built up metro areas. It's even often a sane and reasonable speed on the NJTP northbound from Exits 1-5 (but almost never southbound).

Anyway...

My initial guess is that capping speeds at 112mph will not hurt Volvo's sales or their reputation among their buyers, but will cut their costs by, um, a lot.

If your cars can't go over 112mph, you don't need to design all the parts and systems to perform over 112mph. You don't need to test them over 112mph. Parts costs go down, initially making new car sales more profitable and, later, saving customers money post-warranty with lower parts replacement costs.

If they really wanted to spark a safety conversation to have a safety conversation and safety based outcome, they'd cap speeds at 80mph or less.
Obviously a really different market, but trying that didn’t seem like it worked out great in the V6 Mustang.
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Old 03-06-2019, 11:40 AM   #16
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Obviously a really different market, but trying that didn’t seem like it worked out great in the V6 Mustang.
Broadly, what about the V6 Mustang worked out great?

More limited, was the problem including the limiter or using a driveshaft that couldn't operate safely above the limiter's set speed?
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Old 03-06-2019, 12:38 PM   #17
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Quote:
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Obviously a really different market, but trying that didn’t seem like it worked out great in the V6 Mustang.
I had the same thought about the V6 Mustang

I agree with Clyde on this, generally. Zero impact from a safety standpoint. And 110+ is perfectly reasonable on many roads across the country. Interstate 72 across Illinois comes to mind.
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