Following the local introduction of the new Volvo ES90 and the recent international launch of the new EX60, Volvo is celebrating 70 years of pioneering seatbelt technology this year, also coinciding with the debut of the world-first multi-adaptive seatbelt in the EX60.
Swedish carmaker Volvo was one of the first manufacturers to introduce seatbelts to the European market (the others were its Swedish compatriot Saab and Mercedes-Benz, while Ford offered it as an option in the United States) when it fitted its 1956 Amazon prototype with a two-point cross-chest diagonal belt.
Interestingly, basic lap seatbelts (first designed for a glider in the mid-19th century and compulsory in aircraft from 1928) were already offered as a factory option by the now-defunct American car company Nash in its 1949 models. However, buyers did not want them and requested that dealers remove them. Ford offered seat belts as an option in 1955, but these also did not prove popular.
Although Volvo made seatbelts available as an option on its Amazon 120-series production models 70 years ago, it was the three-point seat belt, designed and developed in its modern form by Swedish inventor Nils Bohlin for Volvo, that revolutionised vehicle safety. Three years later, Volvo became the first brand in the world to fit three-point belts as standard on its cars.
THREE-POINT SAFETY BELT
Bohlin joined Volvo as a safety engineer in 1958 and used his skills to develop ejection seats for Saab aircraft, which led to the modern safety belt. Consisting of a lap belt and a diagonal belt anchored at a low attachment point beside the seat, it set the template for what is now a standard safety feature in all cars.
Introducing his invention to the Volvo company in 1959 (receiving patent number 3,043,625), Bohlin demonstrated its effectiveness in a study of 28,000 vehicle accidents in Sweden. Unbelted occupants sustained fatal injuries throughout the whole speed scale, whereas none of the belted occupants was fatally injured at accident speeds below 100 km/h. No belted occupant was fatally injured if the passenger compartment remained intact.
In the same year, the three-point safety belt was installed as standard in all Swedish-market Volvo cars, and later in cars worldwide as the patent became available to all car makers free of charge. As a result, seatbelt availability quickly became widespread, and their fitment as a legal requirement was accelerated, helping save millions of lives worldwide.
VOLVO’S MULTI-ADAPTIVE BELT
First introduced in the Amazon, spiritual predecessor of the new ES90, the engineering innovation from Volvo 70 years ago still plays a vital role in the design and engineering of modern models from Gothenburg, with the newly launched EX60 mid-size SUV featuring the world’s first multi-adaptive safety belt.
This state-of-the-art safety belt uses real-time data input from advanced interior and exterior sensors to customise protection, adapting to the situation and individual occupant, taking into account their height, weight, seating position, and crash type.
For example, a larger occupant in a serious crash will receive a higher belt load setting to help reduce the risk of head injury. While a smaller occupant in a milder crash will receive a lower belt load setting to reduce the risk of rib fractures.
As Volvo gathers more insights, the car can improve its understanding of the occupants, new scenarios, and response strategies – and thanks to over-the-air software updates, this can be applied to the car, so the technology will continuously improve over time. This major milestone in automotive safety comes as Volvo prepares to celebrate its centenary in 2027.
Report by FERDI DE VOS | Images © VOLVO CARS SWEDEN
