Seat Belt Mechanism: A Gift By Volvo

The world has seen and experienced many amazing and important inventions and discoveries throughout its existence. From the very cliched example of the wheel to the gains in Artificial Intelligence (Read More About Artificial Intelligence Here) (That is what I call self-promotion!), these inventions are sometimes a necessity and at times just a course to attain the contemporarily considered impossible.
A general notion observed is that these inventions, however popular or essential might they be, are patented and restricted to a single proprietor. One of the chief reasons behind this is to earn money off these patents. But some inventions were considered too significant by the inventors and left unpatented for the world to use without restrictions and limitations of any kind.
One such invention was the Three-Point Seat Belt invented by Nils Bohlin, a Swedish Mechanical Engineer who developed it while he worked at the Volvo Car Corporation.
Volvo was considered a pioneer in safety developments and improvements in their cars. Volvo’s prime reputation was built on the quality of the safer cars designed by them. Before 1959, Two-Point Seat Belts were used which buckled around the waist. These were deemed to cause more damage than protect the person in case of an unforeseen accident as it tied up the person and abstained from taking any escape course, if possible.
Nils Bohlin, having previously worked for Saab Aviation where he developed the ejector seats and worked on Four-Point Buckling system for the fighter jets, seemed perfect to inaugurate the post of Chief Safety Engineer in Volvo in 1958. This post was created after a relative of the then Volvo CEO Gunnar Engelau had died in a car crash. Within a year, he developed the Three-Point Seat Belt that went across the torso over to the shoulder. He received his patent numbered 3,043,625.
Volvo launched the new safety system in the Nordic Markets in Volvo Amazon and Volvo PV544 by 1959. By 1963, these mechanisms reached the American Market. This patent alone could have netted a fortune for the company; but going against this temptation, they decided to work for the greater good and gave the patent away. It was declared free for car manufacturers to use and issued such in public interest. According to the story:
The reason the three-point seatbelt is so widely adopted is actually because Volvo opened up the patent so that any car manufacturer could use it in their design. They decided that the invention was so significant, it had more value as a free life saving tool than something to profit from.
Volvo’s managing director Alan Dessell 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.”
By 1968, the Three-Point System was made a mandatory requirement in American cars and began to be adopted by cars all over the globe. Nils Bohlin went on to develop more safety mechanisms and features, improving the previous ones until his retirement in 1985. He died in 2002 and an article by Volvo estimated that in the past four decades the Three-Point Seat Belt had saved over one million lives. Nils Bohlin was posthumously added in the National Inventors Hall of Fame and is even today praised for such an important invention.
FACT: The Seat Belt saves at least 11,000 lives every year!
It was the greatness of Volvo to not keep this invention to itself and let the world use it, a selfless act we rarely get to see. So the next time Three-Point Mechanism saves you (God Forbid!), you know whom you’ve got to thank!


Originally published at theindianrishiblog.wordpress.com on September 4, 2018.
