The Battery is Under the Cover, the Cover, the Cover!

[rmoore]

OK. You raise the hood of a 2010 Volvo XC-60 to shut down the electrical power and all you see is a bunch of covers. Where's the battery? Well, it's under the cover!

I know. Which cover?

The black one!

I know. They're all black. Which black one?

[rmoore]

Typical of many late-model vehicles, the components within the engine compartment are getting covered and concealed. This includes the battery.

Well, this Volvo XC60 battery wound up being under the smaller black cover that is almost tucked under the firewall. here it is with the cover removed.

Finding it was one thing. Disconnecting or even cutting both negative and positive battery cables was not easy. Note how a large portion of the battery is beneath the top edge of the firewall.

We found the battery in the first place by using our Crash Recovery System software to even know that it was within the engine compartment. Before I looked it up, I would have guessed that the Volvo battery was going to be in the rear of this SUV.

[rmoore]

This color image is a great one. It details the four types of structural steel used the 2010 Volvo XC60 we were working on.

Besides aluminum, the vehicle has four grades of steel. The blue is mild steel. Yellow is the next toughest material. Pink is the really ultra-high strength steel; in this case Boron.

Note that the XC60 has Boron in the entire B-pillar, the rocker, a part of the A-pillar and some of the roofrail. At the crash scene, you'll never know this. All this strong structural steel would be wrapped with normal looking mild steel the same color as the paint on the vehicle.

Anyway, if you are trying to explain various strengths of steel in parts of a vehicle, this is a pretty good piece of artwork.

[mikeyboy411]

A little "cheater" that I've taught my Guys is to look for the square one, the one with the "+" and "-" and/or the one that says "battery". I'm sure not all are labeled this way, but hey, it's a start..... I learned this little trick when I was trying to boost a battery in a parking lot on my Pontiac G6. What a pain.....

[JorgHeck]

Here is the CRS image of the XC60. It may also help with locating the battery under all the covers, especially when the front end is crumpled up.