SMDI names Volvo as winner of AHSS innovation award

The Steel Market Development Institute (SMDI), a business unit of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), has named the Volvo Car Corp. body structure team as the winner of the Automotive Excellence Award for its advanced high-strength steel (AHSS) innovations in the 2016 Volvo XC90.

Henric Lindberg, system attribute leader – body structure at Volvo, received the award for his GDIS 2016 presentation, "Advanced High-Strength Steel Technologies in the 2016 Volvo XC90."

Volvo created a new-generation architecture for the XC90, the scalable product architecture, which achieved a stiffer, stronger, larger, and lighter body structure to optimize driving performance through extensive use of AHSS. This achievement earned the vehicle a Top Safety Pick by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) in 2015, as well as North American Truck of the Year in 2016.

“Volvo used steel in a way which will launch a new generation of applications of the material,” said Jody Hall, vice president of the automotive market, SMDI. “Their new architecture exemplifies the use of the right material in the right application. By utilizing a steel-intensive structure, they were able to reduce mass without sacrificing strength and safety."