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Volvo, a brand that has built its reputation on selling safer cars, committed one of the most ethical acts in the automotive space, by not only creating the three-point seatbelt in 1959, but also by opening up the patent so that other manufacturers could use it in their design – favoring human lives over corporate profits.
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Created by Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin, seatbelts at the time were rudimentary two-point waist restrainers that did more harm than good in a crash. Volvo’s Managing Director, Alan Desselss is quoted as saying: “The decision to release the three-point seat belt patent was visionary and in line with Volvo’s guiding principle of safety.”
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Bohlin, a former aviation engineer at Saab, envisioned a simple solution which took the form of a combined lap belt with a diagonal belt across the chest. Working for Volvo until 1985, he pushed for improvements in safety, in areas such as side impact protection and rear seat belts.
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Honored for his ingenuity, Nils Bohlin received a gold medal from the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Science and was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame before passing away in 2002. On the 50th anniversary of the three-point seatbelt, Volvo claimed it had saved over a million lives across the world and had curbed an even great number of serious injuries.
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To this day, the three-point seatbelt continues to be the most successful contribution to safety in the history of motoring. Thus, in a way, it could be said that there is a little bit of Nils Bohlin in every car…
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