There is one invention that has saved more than 1 million lives, and that is the three-point seat belt, which you’ll find in almost every car you see today.
Nils Bohlin was an engineer who worked for Volvo Cars back in 1959. It was during his time there that he realised the seat belts being used in cars were not as safe as they should be. At this point, seat belts only went across your lap, and, in a crash, they usually hurt people a lot instead of helping them.
As Nils Bohlin used to design ejector seats for jet planes, he knew a lot about safety. He thought, “What if we made a seat belt that goes across your lap and your chest?” That way, it would spread out the force of a crash and keep people safer. He designed a belt that looked like a letter “V” as he knew this would make it strong, comfy, and easy to use.
After all of the tests proved the three-point seat belt worked perfectly, Volvo decided that it was too important to keep for themselves. Instead of making money from it, they shared the design with other car companies for free. They believed saving lives was more important than making a profit, and they have now saved more than a million people!
In 1983, it became a rule that every new car had to be fitted with three-point seat belts to keep people as safe as possible. After all of this time, though, Volvo wanted to do more to keep people safe in their cars. That’s why they have now created the first ever multi-adaptive safety belt.
This new seat belt uses real-time data from sensors inside and outside the car to adjust how it works. That means it can change depending on the size, shape, and even the sitting position of the person wearing it. If a tall adult is in a big crash, the belt might tighten more to protect their head. If a smaller person is in a lighter bump, the belt might stay softer to protect their ribs.
Instead of just three settings like old belts, this new one has eleven! And it can get even smarter over time with updates sent straight to the car in the same way you might update an app on your tablet.
With this invention, Volvo hopes to save even more lives in the future, just like Nils Bohlin did over 60 years ago.
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