It may come as no surprise to some that the three- point seat belt in widespread use today was invented by a Swede working for Volvo. Nils Bohlin (1920-2002) was an aircraft designer for Saab, where he developed ejector seats, before joining Volvo as its first safety engineer in 1958. Seat belts at that time involved just one belt across the lap, a design that risked injuries to internal organs in high-speed crashes.
Bohlin sought to find a simple, comfortable alternative that would protect both the upper and lower body. His three-point solution allowed occupants to buckle up with one hand, using one strap across the chest and lap with the buckle placed next to the hip. The design spread out the forces of a crash more evenly across the body, resulting in fewer injuries. It was effective at restraining the body and preventing ejection from the vehicle in high-speed crashes. Bohlin said his design worked because it was comfortable and easy to use, as well as being safer.
Volvo began including the new seat belt in its cars in Sweden in 1959, and other car manufacturers soon followed suit. In 1970 the state of Victoria in Australia passed the first laws requiring drivers and front seat passengers to wear seat belts. Since then most countries have introduced seat belt laws. Volvo first put three-point seat belts in the rear of their cars in 1972.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that seat belts reduce the risk of car crash fatalities by 45 percent and prevent more than 100,000 injuries a year in the United States alone. Meanwhile in the United Kingdom, 370 still die in car crashes every year from not wearing seat belts.
