Volvo promises deathproof cars by 2020

By 2020, Volvo claimed no one will be killed or seriously injured in a new Volvo car or SUV.

"If you meet Swedish engineers, they're pretty genuine," said Lex Kerssemakers, CEO of Volvo Cars North America. "They don't say things when they don't believe in it."

The concept isn't entirely new.

According to data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, nine vehicle models - including the Volvo XC90 - have no recorded deaths in at least four years.

For Volvo, a large portion of the promise is autonomous cars, those that don't require driver input.

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