By Todd Dills
Fleet management capabilities come standard on new trucks from Volvo Trucks North America with the combination of Volvo’s Link Sentry satellite monitoring system and the Volvo Action Service roadside assistance program, the company said Thursday, March 22, at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky. The system attempts to increase security and support for drivers on the road, while at the same time protecting fleets’ bottom lines.
“The security and support offered to drivers and fleets from Volvo Link Sentry and Volvo Action Service are so great that we made both services standard for Volvo trucks,” said Scott Kress, senior vice president for sales and marketing. “This combination has proven itself to be an incredible benefit for customers since August 2005, when we first made it standard on our flagship Volvo VT880.”
Volvo’s Link Sentry onboard vehicle monitoring and communications system enables fleets to track fuel use and distance traveled per gallon of fuel; to pre-set road speeds and study driver variance; and to monitor idle time, battery voltage and diesel particulate filter status. “Using Volvo Link’s satellite communication function, fleet managers get a weekly report showing specific information about each truck from Sentry,” Kress said.
In an on-highway event or failure, Sentry sends diagnostic code data in real time via satellite to technical experts at Volvo Action Service, the company’s 24/7 roadside assistance program, who can help determine a course of action. Kress emphasized that the driver stays in control at all times, with the ability to communicate with technicians at the VAS control center to diagnose the problem and determine a course of action.
Volvo also announced the addition of the Volvo Enhanced Stability Technology (VEST) electronic stability program to all VHD concrete mixers. VEST also was expected to provide automatic stability monitoring to other applications utilizing the various VHD models.
VEST already is standard on Volvo VN and VT tractors.
Next week, Kress said, the 100,000th I-Shift automated transmission, which began production last year, will go in a truck coming out of Volvo’s western Virginia facility, and this April marks Volvo’s 80th anniversary.
