Limitations of City Safety

The City Safety function may have limitations in certain situations.

Surroundings

Low objects

Low-hanging objects, e.g. a flag/pennant for projecting load, or accessories such as auxiliary lamps and bull bars that are higher than the bonnet limit the function.

Skidding

On slippery road surfaces the braking distance is extended, which may reduce the capacity of City Safety to avoid a collision. In such situations the anti-lock brakes and the Electronic stability control will give the best possible braking force and will maintain stability.

Oncoming light

The visual warning signal in the windscreen may be difficult to notice in the event of strong sunlight, reflections, when sunglasses are being worn or if the driver is not looking straight ahead.

Heat

 Note

The visual warning signal can be temporarily disengaged in the event of high passenger compartment temperature caused by strong sunlight for example.

  • Warnings may not appear if the distance to the vehicle in front is small or if steering wheel and pedal movements are large, e.g. a very active driving style.

The camera and radar unit's field of view

The camera's field of vision is limited, which is why pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles in some situations cannot be detected, or they are detected later than anticipated.

Dirty vehicles may be detected later than others and if it is dark, motorcycles may be detected late or not at all.

If a text message in the driver display indicates that the camera and radar unit is obstructed, City Safety may be unable to detect pedestrians, cyclists, vehicles or road lines ahead of the car. This means that the functionality of City Safety may be reduced.

However, an error message is not shown in all situations where the windscreen sensors are obstructed. The driver must therefore take care to keep the area of windscreen in front of the camera and radar unit clear.

 Important

Maintenance and replacement of City Safety components must only be performed by a workshop - an authorised Volvo workshop is recommended.

Driver intervention

Reversing

When your own car is reversing, City Safety is temporarily deactivated.

Low speed

City Safety is not activated at very low speeds - below 4 km/h (3 mph) - and the system therefore does not intervene in situations when the driver is approaching a vehicle in front very slowly, e.g. when parking.

Active driver

Driver commands are always prioritised, which is why City Safety does not intervene or postpone warning/intervention in situations where the driver is steering and accelerating in a decisive manner, even if a collision is unavoidable.

Active and aware driving behaviour can delay a collision warning and intervention in order to minimise unnecessary warnings.

Miscellaneous

 Warning

Warnings and brake interventions could be implemented late or not at all if a traffic situation or external influences mean that the camera and radar unit cannot detect pedestrians, cyclists or vehicles correctly.

For vehicles to be detected at night, their headlamps and rear lamp cluster must be switched on and shining clearly.

The camera and radar unit has a limited range for pedestrians and cyclists. The system can provide effective warnings and brake interventions as long as the relative speed is below 50 km/h (30 mph). For stationary or slow-moving vehicles, warnings and brake interventions are effective at vehicle speeds up to 70 km/h (43 mph).

Warnings for stationary or slow-moving vehicles could be disengaged due to darkness or poor visibility.

Warnings and brake interventions for pedestrians and cyclists are deactivated at vehicle speeds exceeding 80 km/h (50 mph).

Do not place, stick or mount anything on the outside or inside of the windscreen in front of or around the camera and radar unit — this can interfere with camera-dependent functions.

 Note

The function uses the car's camera unit, which has some general limitations, see the "Limitations for camera unit" section.

 Note

The function uses the car's radar unit, which has some general limitations, see the "Limitations for radar unit" section.