At the New York International Auto Show, I tried out Volvo’s low-speed collision avoidance system, dubbed City Safety. The demo was great fun, and the system might even be helpful to those of us who, in a moment’s inattention, are perfectly capable of crashing into the car ahead while inching through stop-and-go traffic—especially when dealing with NYC rush-hour traffic.

Volvo safety engineers had set up a short roadway of Jersey barriers in the parking lot outside the Javits Center, where the New York auto show takes place. At the near end was a 2010 Volvo XC60, and at the far end, a couple of hundred feet farther along, was a sponge-rubber object vaguely similar to a small car. The City Safety braking feature is a radar-activated low-speed collision avoidance technology. It is active only at speeds of 18 mph or less, and it fully stops your car only when traveling at about 9 mph or less. Between 10 and 18 mph, the system provides “mitigation” rather than complete avoidance. In other words, you may still hit the car ahead, but less forcefully.

With a Volvo rep riding shotgun, I was told to drive straight toward the target “car” at up to 10 mph and see what happens. Approaching the Red Grooms-like soft sculpture, the XC60 jammed on its brakes, preventing collision—as promised. With my foot on the gas pedal, the antilock brakes intervened with a satisfying crunch, and the SUV halted prior to impact with no more drama than found in the typical Big Apple cab ride.

Volvo says the system can prevent whiplash injuries in the car ahead, and perhaps whiplash to yourself that may arise from the rebound effect where your head snaps forward and then back. And even if no one is hurt, it goes without saying that any crash you avoid will save you a heap of trouble and expense. If you don’t want this safety nanny sharing the brakes with you, you can easily switch her off. And the system deactivates itself if you hit the brakes or take any sort of evasive maneuver, so it’s not second-guessing you constantly.

Dynamic collision avoidance is not new. A number of luxury cars employ some kind of autonomous braking, usually as part of their adaptive cruise control systems. But City Safe provides brake intervention in the urban environment, adding an extra measure of safety without requiring the driver to be using cruise control. City Safe is standard equipment on the XC60 and it will be standard on the S60 starting with its 2010 model year.

Volvo statistics show that 75 percent of all crashes occur at less than 18 mph and that such a system could prevent half of them. As it happens, Consumer Reports has just bought its own Volvo XC60, and we’ll soon have some real-life driving experiences to pass along. (See our first impression from the 2008 NYIAS unveiling in the embedded video above.) As the survivor of a Manhattan mishap or two, I like the City Safety concept. It helps reduce stress in a nerve-wracking drive, just like many of us had on the way home from the show.

—Gordon Hard

See Consumer Reports' coverage of the 2009 New York auto show.