The XC60 stays true to Volvo's strong heritage of safety innovations, packed full of advanced safety features that any family would utilize and appreciate.

With top scores of Good in front, side and rear crash tests, plus the roof-strength test, the XC60 is an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Top Safety Pick. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gives the XC60 an overall crash-test rating of five out of five stars.

As is required of all 2012 models, the Volvo XC60 has standard antilock brakes, an electronic stability system and traction control. There are side curtain airbags for the front and backseat passengers, plus side-impact airbags for the driver and front passenger.

Volvo says 75 percent of all crashes occur while vehicles are going less than 19 mph. In order to help curb that, the XC60 features Volvo's City Safety as standard equipment. An infrared laser sensor "watches" the front of your vehicle to see if you're about to hit another car. If the difference in speed between the two cars is less than 10 mph, the XC60 intervenes and brakes to a stop to completely avoid a collision. If the difference in speed between the two cars is between 11 and 19 mph, the XC60's braking should decrease the severity of the imminent crash.

Optional safety features on my XC60 Platinum included a backup camera, collision warning with auto brake, pedestrian detection with full auto brake and a lane departure warning system, with the option to choose either normal or increased sensitivity.

See all the 2012 Volvo XC60's standard safety features here.

Installing child-safety seats in the XC60 is a mixed bag. Of course, if you have Volvo's integrated two-stage booster seat option, your kids will jump right in and get buckled up on their own with the help of stable seat belt buckles.

However, installing either rear- or forward-facing seats using the Latch system is a bit of a challenge. The lower anchors are hidden within the seat bight, so if you're installing a seat with Latch hooks on a nylon belt (rather than rigid Latches like those on Clek seats), you'll have to fish around in the seat bight to hook and unhook the Latch.