Volvo S-80 with "HEARTBEAT SENSOR". CMON!

[Gogar]

What kind of paranoid person checks to see if a dangerous intruder is hiding INSIDE THE CAR on her way out of the mall late at night?

And, what kind of dangerous intruder can get INSIDE THE CAR without, you know, breaking a window, or setting off the conventional car alarm?

Am I the only person who think this is just the stupidest thing ever? Are there thousands of paranoid single women out there concerned about masked intruders hiding inside their Volvos?

The only good use i can see for it is if there was a cat sitting on top of your serpentine belt trying to keep warm, maybe the HEARTBEAT DETECTOR could alert you to that.

http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/354/C6402/
http://laptoplogic.com/news/detail.php?id=1132

[Sapporo Guy]

Ummm, wives/gfs hiding in the car waiting to kill their men

I thought this would be more useful as a way to detect if the driver was getting drozy.

[Andras Nagy]

I've always thought that Volvo makes a big deal out of "safety" because their cars are not so wonderful. And I really doubt that they are any safer than my Audi A6. The Audi has the same bells and whistles as the Volvo, and Audi treats those things like normal, and doesn't blow it's own horn.

There is a huge difference between real safety items, and touting safety items as if you were the only car manufacturer who was concerned with it.

Volvo just uses it as a marketing ploy, scaring parents of small kids into buying Volvo because of their "safety" features.

[livi]

Watch it!! I am feeling really disrespectfully treated here, being a Swede and all. No, wait, this is not the God thread. My bad. Sorry!

Besides that, you are right, Volvo has always used the safety issue in their marketing strategies. Sold them a lot of cars here in Sweden. The 15 millionth car was just built and distributed to ..wait for it...California! This feature is of course on the ploy level. Ridiculous.

[the]

Originally Posted by Andras Nagy

I've always thought that Volvo makes a big deal out of "safety" because their cars are not so wonderful. And I really doubt that they are any safer than my Audi A6. The Audi has the same bells and whistles as the Volvo, and Audi treats those things like normal, and doesn't blow it's own horn.

There is a huge difference between real safety items, and touting safety items as if you were the only car manufacturer who was concerned with it.

Volvo just uses it as a marketing ploy, scaring parents of small kids into buying Volvo because of their "safety" features.

I agree. It's the "Something This Plain and Mediocre MUST be Safer" tactic.

[KevinP73]

I'm thinking it would be a good feature for those parents who forget their kids are in the back seat cooking in the heat of day.

[HardDrive]

I heard they first considered simply including a Glock with each car, but it didn't quite fit in with their 'gestalt'.

[legion]

I could see this being a useful feature in South America.

[Jims5543]

I could see maybe a heartbeat monitor for the driver that stops the car and shuts it down if it does not detect a heartbeat.

If you live in Florida in the winter you totally understand this.

[NICKG]

Originally Posted by Gogar

What kind of paranoid person checks to see if a dangerous intruder is hiding INSIDE THE CAR on her way out of the mall late at night?

the same kind that think we are in utter "peril from the terrorists"
we are such a pathetic scared people...we are so afraid of the people around us that we lock ourselves up...
truly pathetic.

[Scuba Steve]

Originally Posted by Jim Cesiro

I could see maybe a heartbeat monitor for the driver that stops the car and shuts it down if it does not detect a heartbeat.

If you live in Florida in the winter you totally understand this.

I thought of old people going out while driving too...

[turbo6bar]

Brainwave sensor would inhibit use of most Volvo's, so they went with the next best thing.

[pwd72s]

I thought of the military application to this technology...to be able to stalk enemy troops by sensing their heartbeat? Easier than shooting fish in a barrel.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by NICKG

the same kind that think we are in utter "peril from the terrorists"
we are such a pathetic scared people...we are so afraid of the people around us that we lock ourselves up...
truly pathetic.

this entire post is pathetically silly, sillier than the idea of having a heartbeat monitor on your car

[Dan in Pasadena]

I am old enough to remember Volvo ads from the 70's and the only people talking about how safe they were was themselves! I may be wrong but in those days no one was over-the-top concerned about auto safety as they are now. To say that ALL today's cars are radically safer than those of the 70's and before is a huge understatement.

By the way, put me down for not needing a heartbeat monitor, a self-parking car, a car where both front and rear wheels turn, proximity warning sensors in the bumpers, and I don't need an "express-down" button for the power window either. I can hold it down for the 3-4 seconds it takes. Geez!

[Dan in Pasadena]

duplicate

[Dan in Pasadena]

Oops! What? No "dupe sensor" on this board? :>)

[Dave L]

Will the monitor alert you if you are about to slip into a coma while driving the car? They should put those in Toyota cars.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I'll remember to send my army of cyborgs to kill all the Volvo owners instead of doing it myself.