This year marks 60 years since
Volvo fi rst introduced the threepoint
safety belt – an invention
that has proven to be one of the
world´s most important traffi c
safety innovations. Indeed, it’s
estimated that more than one
million lives have been saved
worldwide since then
The evidence for three-point seat
belts has mounted up over the
years. According to the UK’s
Road Safety Authority, the best
estimates of the effect of seat belts come
from a 2009 analysis of 29 studies. For car
and van drivers, seat belts were estimated
to be 50% effective at preventing fatal
injuries, 45% effective for serious injuries,
and 25% effective in minor injuries. For front
seat passengers, they were 45% effective
at preventing fatal injuries, 45% effective for
serious injuries, and 20% effective in minor
injuries. For rear seat passengers, those
gures were 25%, 25% and 20%. For more
information, see www.is.gd/tiribe.
Today, seat belts work together with
other injury prevention systems, including
airbags and head restraints, to keep vehicle
occupants safe. But those components
did not exist when the device was originally
invented.
Instead, the innovation came from an
aircraft engineer who originally worked for
Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget (SAAB)
on ejector seats and other pilot rescue
systems, Nils Bohlin (pictured above). He
developed the modern three-point belt in
drivers wore safety harnesses.
American car manufacturer Nash had
tted two-point lap belts as early as 1949.
Their popularity grew following the work of
Californian neurologist C. Hunter Shelden,
who proposed their tment among other
safety measures (including air bags).
His article, “Prevention, the only cure for
head injuries resulting from automobile
accidents” was published in the in uential
Journal of the American Medical Association
in 1955.
Back in Sweden, Bohlin, who
transferred to Volvo in 1958 as
a safety engineer, knew that
an effective belt must absorb
force across the body, yet be
so easy to use that even a child
could buckle up. Therefore,
his ingenious solution took the form of
a combined lap belt with a diagonal belt
across the chest.
Although the seat belt design was
patented, the company decided the patent
was to be left open for all manufacturers to
use free-of-charge, according to Volvo.
The rst car to feature the new threepoint
Volvo 122 (pictured above). In the UK, the
wearing of three-point seat belts in cars
became compulsory in 1983. However, it
was not until October 2001 that all goods
vehicles over 3.5 tonnes were required to
have seat belts tted to the driver’s seat
and all forward-facing passenger seats.
To encourage the use of seat belts,
vehicle manufacturers have developed
reminder systems to alert occupants
that seat belts aren’t being worn, and
since 2014 these systems have become
mandatory.
And they are not stopping
there. For example, General
Motors has introduced a seatbeltignition
interlock called ‘Buckle
to Drive’ as a standard feature
in the 2020 Chevrolet Traverse
SUV. Part of its 2015 Teen Driver system,
it recognises the key fobs of inexperienced
drivers. If the driver’s seatbelt is not
connected, the system prevents the car
being moved out of the ‘park’ gear selector
for up to 20 seconds. When the brake
pedal is pressed, the screen displays the
instructions: ‘Buckle seat belt to shift’.
AUTOMOTIVE
Buckle
UP
1942, at a time when pilots and racing
point seat belt as standard was the 1959
Volvo
mindscanner /stock.adobe.com
32 www.ied.org.uk
/tiribe
/stock.adobe.com
/www.ied.org.uk