Hitting a deer on a Motorway!

[S80 2.9 manual]

Readers might be interested to know about what happens .... Volvo is a 19 reg V90 T5 Inscription in Denim Blue (+ ventilated leather, winter pack, heated rear seats, HK sound, laminated side glass, darkened rear glass, 4 zone climate, CD player and possibly something else I've forgotten) with just over 2,000 miles on the clock being driven along the inside lane of a motorway (with Pilot Assist operating).

A deer appears in front of the car and is captured on a dash-cam with time shown. No sign of the deer one second before impact. One second after impact hazard warning lights are on (automatically), engine is stopped (presumably in case of fuel leakage), but power steering continues to function (electric) and car is coasting (whether this is because my "Individual" setting is based around Eco or not I don't know). 10 seconds after impact 999 operator asks whether I want Police, Ambulance or Fire. After some largely incoherent rambling, I decide on Police - coasting in hard shoulder by now - and then speak to Police operator who offers to send a Traffic Officer. Finally stop by emergency phone and railings. No airbags go off (no need - the offside is not damaged and there is no-one in the passenger seat). Driver's seat pre-tensioner operates. Call Volvo Assist. On hold for some time. Traffic Officer arrives and asks about the deer. He reverses along the Hard Shoulder to look for debris. Still on hold. Get through to someone who redirects me to accident department. On hold again. Traffic officer returns. Still on hold. He asks whether the car is drivable and on discovering that it moves, he suggests driving to the next Junction where there is a petrol station. Hang up on Volvo assist after 20 minutes of mostly hold ..... car has now gone for repair (hope it's repaired and not written off, as the exact specification cannot now be repeated).

Although fully aware of the existence of the emergency call system, I had not experienced it (and hope that not many others have), but was seriously impressed by the speed at which it operated and by the way in which the car reacted to the accident.

Vehicle history: 144DL (1974); 240 GLE est (1984); 360 GLS 5dr (1983); 240 GLT (1987); 850 GLT 2.5 (1993); S80 2.9 SE manual (1998); S80 D5 SE Lux (2008); V70 D3 SE Lux (2011); V70 D4 SE Lux (2015). Can't upload pictures - files are too large.

[Deman77]

So animal avoidance software they made so much marketing fuss about a couple of years ago is only for adverts.

[roundyuk]

I think you'll find an average UK deer is too small anyway....unless maybe it was a huge red stag.

[nu11eaf]

Unfortunately Deer have an habbit of leaping into the path of a car rather than running into the road. Before you or the car know anything about it its embeded into the grill on on the bonnet.

[MCV60]

Originally Posted by Deman77

So animal avoidance software they made so much marketing fuss about a couple of years ago is only for adverts.

http://volvo.custhelp.com/app/answer...imal-detection

[Ringthane]

To be fair, by the description of the incident, I doubt even the fastest supercomputer would be able to react in time to avoid this particular collision.

I know it works when a kid on a pushbike decided to veer off the pavement, onto the road in front of me, but he was 5 meters away, so time to react.

[xsaab]

Also a Hampshire resident - I remember one 3 month period when two neighbours and a work colleague had deer strikes, I cannot remember the outcome re the vehicles but work was required.

A rule of thumb is that it is not the first deer that you hit but the second one that is following the deer that you have just avoided.

Re the VOC - I have seen the speed of response from the Emergency services when the SOS button was pressed in error in the service department. I had not even completed the receiving of the car process.

[AndyJudge]

Originally Posted by MCV60

http://volvo.custhelp.com/app/answer...imal-detection

If you read the info it classes the Animal as the Size of a Horse, Moose etc, & that it can reduce the speed by up to 9mph to lessen the force of the impact, from the sound of the OP's description the car may have already hit the brakes but it all happened so quickly it didn't register to him.

It's encouraging to know that the systems work in the real world, although very unlucky for the OP that it was him acting as the crash tester.

I hit a deer years ago as it literally bounced out of the verge in front of me & heck did it do some damage to my car.

[tem]

Attached is an article and video of Volvo’s Moose Strike Test:

https://www.caranddriver.com/feature...test-for-that/

tem.

[AndyJudge]

Originally Posted by tem

Attached is an article and video of Volvo’s Moose Strike Test:

https://www.caranddriver.com/feature...test-for-that/

tem.

Wouldn't want an encounter with a Moose on a dark & Wet night