A seatbelt
Perhaps older news now – but still worthy. The humble 3 way seatbelt (as designed by Volvo) has saved more than 1 million lives. Here’s the story from the release:
More than a million people globally are estimated to have survived a car accident thanks to a 50-year-old invention designed by Volvo – the three-point safety belt.
The three-point seatbelt as we know it today was created by Volvo in 1959 and the manufacturer
was so convinced of its safety potential that it made the patent available for other manufacturers, and motorists, to benefit from.
And although we may now take it for granted, modern technological developments, such as seat belt pre-tensioners, are designed to work in conjunction with the same basic design of the seatbelt, so it remains the single most important safety feature on all modern cars.
Volvo was also the first manufacturer to fit three-point safety belts as standard equipment in its cars, from 1963. Now required by law in modern cars, it continues to protect hundreds of thousands of people from death or serious injury in car accidents every year.
Peter Rask, Managing Director of Volvo Car UK, said: “For the majority of motorists, clicking the seatbelt into place is as much a part of the ritual to beginning a car journey as starting the engine.
“That makes it easy to forget its lifesaving potential. However other safety systems, such as airbags, are designed to work in conjunction with seatbelts, so it remains the most important safety device in any modern car.”
Research published by the Department for Transport* indicates that annually about 565 people die in traffic accident not wearing a seatbelt and, in 2007, over 300 of these might have survived had they been belted in.
Seatbelt use in cars became mandatory for front seat occupants in the UK in 1983, with further legislation in 1989 making it a requirement for all children to wear one. In 1991 wearing a seatbelt in the back of a car became compulsory.
*DfT publication Road Safety Compliance Consultation (para 4.6) published in November 2008.
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