Let's face it, it's a man's world, and cars are no exception—they are primarily made for and marketed to men. This leaves a huge gap in the market as well as in safety features, but Volvo is changing the game. In fact, they are proof that as fun as marketing is, marketing can save lives.
A lot of people don't know that the vast majority of cars are not exactly designed with women in mind. All else being equal, women are 17% more likely to be killed in a car accident than a man and 73% more likely to be seriously injured in a frontal crash. Crash dummies are 171lb, 5'9", and have the proportions of a man.
Volvo creates cars with safety features above and beyond industry standards to make sure their cars are safe for women as well. The reason Volvo started the trend toward women was because sometime in the early 2000s, although in America 53% of Volvo sales went to women, in Europe at the time the number was only 14%.
So even though I like to think that caring for my safety was out of the goodness of Volvo's heart, Volvo markets to women to make more money. Everything really is just a marketing ploy at the end of the day! However, I'm grateful for it, the end result is the same and it benefits us women just the same.
These metrics led them to develop YCC - your concept car designed by women, for women. Some features include ergonomic seats, great visibility, built in safe in the car, a lot of storage, seat design for ponytails (FINALLY!), improved safety features, and more.
Though the ponytail design hasn't come to fruition to my knowledge yet, Volvo has made tremendous steps toward increasing safety for women drivers and passengers. Here are some of their features:
Reduces risk of whiplash by half, which is a higher problem in females.
Intelligent safety shield reduces 50% of serious chest injuries, again, a serious problem for female drivers and passengers.
Curtain airbag that reduces risk of serious head injuries by 75%.
However, what is even cooler is that Volvo also shares their data with other companies, which goes beyond marketing in the pure sense, despite that it is charitable and makes customers want to support them, it does give their competitors an advantage because Volvo is obviously paying for that R&D. I never thought I would want a Volvo, but now I really want to support this company.
A lot of other companies don't do this sort of thing because it costs a lot more and current regulations do not require it, but it is a step in the right direction. Volvo also created the first pregnant crash dummy.
I don't know about you, but my next car will be a Volvo!