The three-point seat belt is one of the most important and useful inventions in car history. It has saved the lives of millions of people. Before this seat belt, cars only had simple two-point lap belts. These belts only held the passenger's waist. In an accident, the body moved forward, which often caused bad injuries to the head, neck, and stomach.
Things changed when an airplane engineer named Nils Bohlin worked for Volvo. Because there were many car accidents in the US and Europe, Volvo asked him to design a new belt. Bohlin patented a modern three-point seat belt. Its unique design crossed the strongest parts of the body: the shoulder, the chest, and the pelvis. This greatly reduced damage during an accident.
The big change happened on August 13, 1959, when the Swedish company released its first cars with this safety system, the Volvo PV544 and the Amazon 120. Even though this invention could have brought huge financial profit, Volvo made an amazing choice. For the company, saving human lives was more important than making money.
Starting in 1967, back seats in cars also got three-point seat belts. Over the decades, its design evolved with features like the inertia reel, the load limiter, and more. Today, studies show that a seat belt reduces the risk of death in an accident by about 50%. The basic design made by Bohlin is still the same today and has saved millions of lives all over the world.