So my new Volvo has this fancy city safety mode on it. However how do I know if it's working? Dealer said "don't test it out!" but I am not very confident it is doing anything. I have got awfully close to another car and nothing happened driving at

 

Do us a favor, pay attention on the road than wondering the car's safety net.

Here's what Volvo says about the system. https://www.media.volvocars.com/us/e...e-all-new-xc90

Other than intentionally trying to drive into an object, I don't see how you can test the system.

 

I had the same question. (Dont worry I was paying attention to my driving tryingbe). At my Volvo dealership they have a test drive area. Last time I had service completed I asked to drive the course. They have a parking cone with reflective tape on it set up. You drive at it at 15 MPH, faster and you'll brake but may hit the cone. It slams on the brakes and city safety shows up on your instrument cluster.

I believe it is the reflectors that trigger the city safety. I cant remember what the upgraded feature was that avoided bicycles and stuff.

I also triggered mine by accident pulling up to a gated community. I came up on the gate (which had reflective tape) and it activated. It startled me at first, now I do it for fun. Dont worry I was being safe about it though.

 

I hope the Volvo community is a bit more welcoming and helpful than this! After driving for 23 years or more without a single bump, shunt, accident, crash or rear end I think I can say that I don't "need" city safety. I specifically did not get Blis or backup camera because I prefer to rely on my own senses, eyes etc.
I am just curious as to how it works and what it does and what it's limitations are. Presumably it relies on a bit more sophistication than some reflective tape. I would like to experience how it feels and what it does myself but without actually crashing my car. The dealership didn't seem very interested in telling me or demonstrating it.
I tried the Subaru eyesight setup and that dealer was pretty unenthusiastic about demonstrating what it could do too though I heard it's a pretty decent setup.
Oh and I bought the car for my wife not me. She isn't a terrible driver but she very much does not have an unblemished driving record.

 

My dealer was excited to demonstrate the system for me. As another poster commented, they had a few traffic cones (no reflective tape) marking a chute or traffic lane, with a single cone blocking the lane at the end. The salesman drove the car at about 15 MPH toward the cone, and did not apply the brake. The car automatically braked to a stop (pretty quick, close to a panic stop).

I have had the system activate

- when pulling into a parking spot with a bush at the edge of the parking lot

- when pulling into my garage when I opened the door very late

- when approaching an arm at a parking garage

In all cases, the system was a little trigger-happy in my opinion, but not outrageously so. After all, it doesn't know if I'm distracted or not.

If I were to try to test it, I would set a traffic cone or empty cardboard box in a quiet street or in an empty parking lot and drive at it at 10-15 MPH, with lookouts posted to make sure no other vehicles approach while conducting the test.

The system uses cameras (two, I think) that are on / in front of the rear view mirror inside the car. I believe the cameras are visible light spectrum.

HTH