GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN - Volvo Car Corporation has received the prestigious award "Genius 2009" by the insurance company Allianz. The Allianz Centre for Technology has been testing cars for traffic safety purposes since 1971. And the "Genius" award was given to Volvo Cars for the development and implementation of the Volvo City Safety system.

"This award is a great honor because it singles out our great commitment to the development of innovative safety systems," said Thomas Viehweg, managing director of Volvo Car Germany, at the award ceremony during the Auto Mobil International (AMI) in Leipzig.

"The strong point of this system is that it automatically intervenes when it is to late for the driver to prevent an accident," said Dr Christoph Lauterwasser, managing director of the Allianz Centre for Technology Automotive (AZT).

AZT has been researching vehicle damages and ways to prevent traffic accidents since 1971.

The Allianz "Genius" was awarded for the fifth time this year. The award honours a technological development which has already been implemented and contributes to greater safety in road traffic. Moreover, the innovation must be proven to have a permanent effect in reducing claims frequency and the severity of accidents.

Dr Karl-Walter Gutberlet, executive officer at Allianz Versicherungs AG, praised the great potential of the new Volvo safety system during the presentation of the award. "A quarter of the liability claims come from collision accidents, and the majority of them occur within urban areas. This year's award-winner has succeeded in developing an innovative protection system for this accident situation, thereby increasing safety in road traffic," said Dr. Gutberlet.

Volvo City Safety offers more safety especially in congested city traffic and is enabled at speeds up to 30 km/h. The system operates with an optical laser which continuously monitors traffic. For example, City Safety recognizes a sudden braking by the vehicle in front of the car. If the driver does not react, the system automatically triggers an emergency stop. The system can prevent a collision completely if the relative speed difference between the two vehicles is less than 15 kph. In the range of 15 to 30 kph, the emphasis is on effectively reducing the collision speed, minimizing the consequences of the accident.