Polestar crash test focuses on carbon body [Video]

Unlike a steel body that crumples, carbon panels simply crack and shatter under impact forces.

Volvo has highlighted the first series of crash tests for the Polestar 1.

With a carbon-fiber body, the Polestar 1 represents a new technology and "exploring the unknown" for Volvo Car Group.

Unlike a steel or aluminum body that crumples and helps absorb energy, carbon cracks and shatters when enduring the high impact forces of a crash.

Volvo used a real-world crash to validate the Polestar 1's revised engineering, which presumably relies more on internal crash-absorbing structures.

"The outcome of this first crash test validates the decision to build the body of Polestar 1 in carbon fiber," says Polestar's head of carbon fiber, Zef can der Putten. "It also confirms that carbon fiber supports the highest safety standards."