I had similar concerns about the safety of third seats before I bought one for my 96 855. About that time, Steve Seekins posted a letter from the then president of VCNA on the now defunct VCOA e-mail list addressing this very question. I saved this old posting, and I don't think Steve would mind if I copied it here. So below is the "official" word from VCNA on third seat safety. This was written in 1993, before the 850 wagons were sold, but I assume the basic premise remains true for the 850's and V70's. The structure and crash response of the wagons is different from the sedans due to the D pillars that support the rear roof/tailgate.

Hope this helps,

Dave Harris

93 854GLT 5-speed 41k mi

96 855 auto 40k mi

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Volvo Wagon Third Seat Crash Safety

From: sseekins@kryten.WOC.ATInc.COM (Steve Seekins)

Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1997 17:00:01 -0500

Subject: Volvo Wagon Third Seat Crash Safety

This official statement from Volvo was authored in 1993. Accident stats

maybe different than quoted, however, they are correct for the date written. This was from the office of Mats Ola Palm, President and Chief Executive Officer, Volvo Cars of North America. Current President and CEO is Helge Alten.

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October 15, 1993

Mr. Daniel S. Reid

Dear Mr. Reid:

Thank you for your letter of October 5, 1993 regarding the accident your

family experienced in their Volvo. I was pleased to see that the Volvo

performed as designed and your family was spared any serious injury. I also want to take a few minutes of your time to discuss the issue you raised regarding the optional rear facing third seat which may be installed in our wagons.

The subject of automotive safety is a complex one with very few simple

answers. Perhaps the best place to start is by realizing that there is a

different relative level of injury exposure for every seating position in

every automobile. This stems from a number of real world issues such as the frequency of the type of accident, the structure of the vehicle, the

direction of impact, the distance from the point of impact, and the type of

restraining device.

According to our Safety Engineers, in most five passenger automobiles this

makes the rear center seating position arguable the "safest" if it is

equipped with a three-point seat belt. Statistics show that the majority of all impacts are frontal, making the rear seat position more desirable. The next most frequent type of accident is the side impact. Here, the center position in the rear seat is the farthest from the potential points of impact. Again, contributing to the safety of this position when a

three-point belt is fitted and used.

I believe it is important to understand the concepts I have stated to

appreciate the risks and merits of our optional rear facing third seat. The optional seat has been designed with the same attention to safety as all of the other seating positions in a Volvo. It is solidly built and firmly bolted to the vehicle structure. It has built in head restraints and three-point self-adjusting seat belts. It is designed to carry 2 children up to 88 pounds each in weight.

As I have stated, the most frequent type of accident is a frontal impact.

In such an accident the third seat is the farthest from the point of impact

and since the seating is rear facing, it allows the occupants to dissipate

the crash energy across their entire back which produces even less body

loading than a seat belt would produce. In the second most frequent type of accident, the side impact, the two occupants of the third seat sit between the rear wheel wells with the extra structure of the rear axle outside them and extra distance to either side of the car. U.S. government statistics show that frontal impacts account for over 50% of all accidents while side impacts total about 28%.

I realize that your concern lies with rear impacts which account for only

10% of all accidents. The body of a Volvo station wagon is designed to

manage crash energy in a different way than our sedans. It is more rigid

and designed to help dissipate the crash energy forward to more of the

structure of the vehicle. The impact in the rear is also lighter than

frontal due to the fact that normally both vehicles move in the same

direction, or one is standing still. In laboratory tests, instrumented

dummies simulating occupants of the proper size, under 88 pounds, wearing

their restraints experienced no significant indications of head, torso, or

leg injuries with a rear impact flat barrier at 30 miles per hour. In fact, this seat complies with the performance requirements stipulated by

government safety authorities in both the U.S. and Europe.

Moving from the theoretical to the practical, our real world experience

bears out the merits of this seat. Approximately one-third of all Volvo

station wagons sold in the U.S. are ordered with this option and have been

for almost 20 years. In virtually every report by the Insurance Institute

for Highway Safety and the Highway Loss Data Institute, Volvo station wagons are consistently rated among the safest vehicles on the roads. During all of this time Volvo Cars of North America has never been contacted regarding an injury or death for an occupant of the third seat in a crash.

While the image in your mind of sitting in the rear facing seat and being

struck by a vehicle is frightening, both laboratory and real world

experience says there is no inherent safety problem in design of the rear

facing third seat. Finally, why does Volvo offer the third seat? Because

we have seen that the extra space available in a wagon is often used to

carry people, in far too many cases, totally unrestrained. The safety

implications of this are truly terrifying. Realizing this, we offered what

we genuinely believe to be a far superior solution.

I thank you for your letter and I hope I did not overwhelm you with this

somewhat complex answer to your question. Again, I am glad to hear your

family is fine. Please call me on the phone at xxx, xxxx, if you want to

further elaborate on my comments, or if I can be of further assistance.

Very truly yours,

Mats Ola Palm

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